All rights belong to Disney/Marvel. I own nothing.
Cambridge
"Who lives above a garage?" Kamala wondered, checking the address on the datapad to confirm that the team was in the right place.
The five-person team stood outside a run-down mechanic shop, barely blending into the crowd on the sidewalk. Several groups of students walked by, identified by at least one of them wearing something that had M.I.T. on it.
Their luck with the weather that had followed them from San Francisco to Baltimore had finally run out as a light summer rain storm covered the college town. Nevertheless, Skaar refused to put on a hoodie and remained in a tank top, shorts, and open-toed shoes. He got a few odd glances, but the rest of his team played it off as a friendly competition.
"It's not that uncommon," Kate shrugged. "I live above a pizzeria. They've given me leftovers a couple of times. They've also come in handy since they're watching over Lucky right now."
"Who's Lucky?" Eli asked.
"Lucky the Pizza Dog," Kate explained with a vague wave of her hand. "He's a golden retriever I adopted when I was working with Clint. He has one eye."
"Obviously," Eli said sarcastically. The time he spent with Kamala and Kate had done wonders in breaking down his shell around the team. He was now joining in with their playful banter like he had been with them for six days instead of six hours.
"You don't have many choices when you're a college student," Cassie said, building on Kate's first point. "Kamala, what do we know about her?"
"Genius from Chicago. Has a YouTube channel dedicated to sightings of her in her suit. Helped the Wakandans with an unidentified threat. Goes by the codename 'Ironheart'." Kamala answered, reading off the datapad. "She's pretty accomplished. She's also a stellar student with a chip on her shoulder according to her professors."
"Who wants to knock on the door?" Cassie asked.
"I will," Eli volunteered, walking up to the screen door next to the garage front. He hit the buzzer and waited.
"Do you have an appointment?" A female's voice crackled over the intercom. It was straightforward and very business-like. She didn't sound like someone who liked to have her time wasted.
"I didn't know someone could sound like their file," Kamala muttered, raising an eyebrow. It wasn't a slight at the new girl, but a surprised observation.
"Nah, but you'll definitely want to talk to us," Eli replied, glancing at the others.
"Tell her we're friends with the Wakandans," Cassie helped.
"I don't know any Wakandans," Eli countered.
"Well, we know people who know them," Kate said awkwardly.
"Why would I want to talk to you?" The woman demanded.
"You're friends with the Wakandans. We have friends who are friends with them too," Eli tried.
The intercom was quiet for a brief moment before the door unlocked and Eli pushed it open.
"First door at the top of the stairs," the woman said before the speaker went dead.
"You heard her," Eli said, motioning for the others to follow.
"So you're them, huh?" Riri asked as the group settled down in her "living room" after introductions.
The college student's loft was the coziest apartment that Kate had ever seen. It was larger on the inside than it had looked on the outside. Everything was spread out, giving the room a comfortable, relaxed vibe, despite the organized chaos of partially finished projects, tools, materials, and designs that covered tables, chairs, and desks.
Music played softly from speakers hidden in the ceiling and there were countless pieces of art across all the walls.
A small kitchen was hidden in the corner of the room. The sink was filled with dirty plates and bowls and there was a growing stack of McDonald's cups next to the refrigerator, making it clear that Riri tended to focus a little too much on her work instead of housework.
As a fellow college student, Kate could relate.
"Them?" Cassie asked.
"Heard through the grapevine that someone was putting together a group of heroes," Riri explained, pulling up a stool and sitting with them.
The M.I.T. student was pretty in a don't-test-me kind of way. What she liked in size, her personality more than made up for it. She had full confidence in herself and didn't mind calling things as she saw it. Some might have called her brash or arrogant, but Cassie and Skaar could relate to her. They also had a low tolerance for bullshit.
"We are," Kamala nodded, sounding surprised but glad that she didn't have to give the same story that she'd already given three times. "I don't suppose you want to join. We'd be happy to have you."
"Shit, don't need to ask me twice," Riri replied with a smirk. "Sounds like a good excuse to get out of Massachusetts for a bit. Been a while since I've had some real fun."
"Awesome!" Kamala clapped. "Welcome to the team."
Riri's smirk fell slightly. "One thing, though," she said slowly, hesitating. "I don't really have a suit…"
"I thought you had built your own suit?" Cassie asked curiously.
"In Wakanda, I did," Riri nodded, sticking her hands in her pockets. "But they didn't let me bring it back. I was working on another one when my shop got raided."
The team all looked at each other as if they were all sharing the same thought.
"Do you know who took your stuff?" Kate asked.
Riri shook her head. "Nah. I had cameras set up, but they were wearing masks and we were all wearing black. Couldn't even pick up on badges or anything."
"And they weren't common thieves?" Eli asked.
Riri shook her head again. "They looked military." She grabbed a remote and turned on the T.V. Using her phone, she streamed a video of the raid on the screen. As she said, the team of heroes saw a group of soldiers quietly enter the room and rifle through everything as two of them packed up the covered object in the corner.
They were in and out in less than seven minutes.
"We've run into them before," Cassie sighed.
"You have?" Riri raised an eyebrow. "Care to fill me in on who stole my stuff?"
"We don't know who they work for," Cassie answered, "but they attacked Eli's house and tried to raid Dr. Banner's house in Mexico. We don't know why."
"Great," Riri sighed. "Thankfully, I put trackers on all my stuff. I've been hoping y'all would show up so that we could go get it."
"What did they take exactly?" Kamala asked.
Riri scowled. "After the F.B.I. came after me when I got mixed up with the Wakandans, I decided to stop leaving stuff in a shop for any rando to find," she explained. "So everything you see here is mine. Every design and project. I work on it downstairs and bring it back up here when I'm done for the day or I finish it. However, I couldn't move the suit."
"Why not?" Kate asked.
"I got a lot of grant money from the Stark Foundation for upcoming names in the fields of math, engineering, and science," Riri said. "I don't know if Shuri put in a word or what, but I still had a lot of money after paying off my loans and tuition. So I tracked down a dealer and got some nanotech."
"The same stuff Tony Stark's suit was made out of," Kamala commented, her eyes bright as she was able to input some of her Avenger knowledge into the conversation.
"My suit is made from the same stuff," Cassie added. "It's super useful."
"Exactly. I figured it would be fun to toy around with," Riri went on. "I was able to put together most of a suit before it was stolen. I kept it in a special container a little smaller than a suitcase."
"Why didn't you bring the container up here?" Eli asked. "It could have easily fit."
"Yeah, but I didn't have the right power source to keep the container running," Riri said. "I needed a separate generator just to keep the container active. With all the things I have up here, the generator would have drained too much power, so I have it connected to a nearby power supply. That's why I kept it downstairs."
"Where's the container?" Skaar asked bluntly, tired of all the back and forth.
"Florida," Riri answered, pulling up the tracker on her phone. "Don't know why."
"Hopefully we'll get more answers when we get there," Kate said. "Do you have anything that can help you in a fight?"
"I have an exosuit," Riri said casually.
"Like from Call of Duty?" Eli asked, surprised. "Where do you keep that?"
Riri pointed across the room. Next to her bed, almost looking like it was protecting it, was an exosuit that looked perfectly fitted to Riri's size. One arm was pointed towards the door while the other was aimed at the large windows that looked out over the street.
"One fires repulsors and the other is a flashbang," Riri said proudly. "It's a little clunky, but I can get by with it."
"Is that your version of home security?" Eli asked.
Riri shrugged. "Some people have an aluminum bat. I have an exosuit."
"That's badass," Eli laughed.
"Now, I heard y'all had a spaceship?" Riri asked as her smirk returned.