Chapter 8: "Iron Man, Wasp, and Cap, Oh My!"

Kate was in her new office, working away, when James came in with a couple of lattes and a bouquet of flowers in one hand — though Kate didn't miss the massive wall of a man that had to be ex-Secret Service now standing outside of her office door.

"Office warming … or whatever. Happy Tuesday," James said as he handed Kate first the coffee then the flowers and then took a seat. "I need you to do me a favor. But it's one I think you'll like."

Kate smirked at him and leaned forward. "No, James, I am not giving you tips on how to get in my daughter's pants."

He stopped and couldn't help but give her a troublemaking smirk. "Oh. So I need help on how to pick up girls too? Good to know. I'll just … sit here until someone takes pity on me. Again. I'm sure Tony will pick another winner. Might not help your book sales, though."

Kate shook her head at that. "You're hilarious."

"I know. Listen, it was just a kiss, okay? I don't think that she'd even be interested — and I know for a fact she's still reeling from that idiot. Don't worry. I'm here because Jan needs to write a memoir," James said. "And I think you should get it out there as soon as possible. She's an amazing storyteller, and one of the original Avengers. It'd sell out before you even got the first round printed. She deserves the recognition."

Kate looked totally shocked for a moment, though James knew she was going to go for it when she still had a sort of smile even in her shocked state. "She totally should," she said at last, the smile widening. "I like it."

"And …" James said, smirking crookedly. "If you get it laid out ahead of time, you could probably make it a series with all of the originals that are still around."

Kate leaned forward with a serious look of trouble. "Wanna be my minion?" she asked.

"I can guarantee that I can talk Steve and Tony into it. Just a matter of time. I have no idea what to do or say with Thor, though."

Kate nodded. "And Steve has a hard time saying no to me," she said. "It's a great idea, especially now with the military pushing the whole 'alternative to the hero path' angle."

"Yeah, I'm working on that too," James said.

"Just gonna solve all the problems in the world, aren't you?" Kate laughed delightedly.

"Yeah, between taking pictures and being snarly. Sounds right."

"And kissing my daughter."

"One time," James said.

"What, you don't like her enough for a second kiss?" Kate asked, a troublemaking light in her eyes.

"Not what I said," James said, shaking his head. "But we're not talking about that. We're talking about conspiring against the Avengers."

"Which is very, very fun," Kate agreed with a little giggle. "Even if the 'what are your intentions' talk is also so very, very fun… But yes. Right. Jan. This so needs to happen."

"Just let me know what you need me to do to help get it rolling," James said.

"We meet up regularly when she comes and does her Auntie Jan routine," Kate assured him.

"Then, if you want me, you know I'm not too far off most days," he said.

Kate smiled at him and then zipped around her desk to wrap him up in a hug and kiss the top of his head. "Yes. You're a wonderful, wonderful minion, you know that?"

"You're welcome for the coffee, then," he said before he got up. "This is what I get for being nice. I get called a minion."

"Awww, you know I tease you because I love you, right?" she said.

"Oh sure," he said. "That's what they all say."

"Well, it's true," Kate told him and then ruffled his hair. "Love you, James."

"Love you too, Auntie Chicken Hawk."

Kate had to laugh at that. "Oh, that's my own fault for saying it's a sign of love."

He started toward the door with a grin. "If you're gonna hit me, I should warn you … I've got a bodyguard now." But he was laughing by the time he got to the door. "Big dude. No sense of humor."

"Aww, is your big brother trying to be a guard dog?" Kate sang out.

"Nah, this guy's taller than me," James laughed.

"Okay, I give up. Is it Scott?" Kate asked.

"Did you miss the seven foot tall black guy?" James said. "You need your eyes checked."

Kate smirked at him. "But that can't possibly be your bodyguard, James," she said sweetly. "You need, like, an Asgardian or something."

He shrugged. "He might be an Asgardian. He's big enough."

"True," Kate giggled, then waved him off. "Have fun, James. Expect to get tackled by the Wasp in, oh, as soon as I hang up the phone with her," she said, already reaching for her phone.

"Uh-huh," he said, though when he opened the door, he couldn't help but drop the smile and just stare up at the guy waiting for him outside. "She says she can take you," he said, only to get hit in the back of the head with a wadded-up paper for it.

"Hey, I brought coffee," Howard said as he ducked into the lab that weekend.

"Great, put it over there," James said almost distractedly, though he didn't look up or gesture to anywhere in particular. "Then come here."

Howard set the paper cups aside and slid over, his head tipped to the side and giving away his curiosity. "I was gonna let you know that we took the portal here and Maria thinks it's the coolest, but your head's not on that… what's the breakthrough?" he asked.

"I figured out the comm," he said.

Howard didn't even bother to hide his shock. "No kidding?"

"Yeah, and as soon as I finish wiring it up, you need to handle the tests. I can't."

Howard frowned, then let out an 'ah' of understanding. "Right, yeah. Metal."

James nodded. "I'm using the least reactive metals for wire I can find," James said. "And as little of it as possible. But … just getting too close to it might fry it once you start the test … and honestly, if they don't work when I'm done, you're going to have to wire them up, too." He picked up one hand and gestured openly. "Adamantium is slightly radioactive. It's in the background and doesn't affect you unless you have a habit of storing it in your body."

"Yeah, but it's also got to be housing some of this crap. So, how hot are you?"

"Haven't tested hot," James said. "I'm still in the background. Test me if you want, but the monitors that are on in here would go off even if I go over the usual background from handling the materials at Banner's."

Howard nodded. "Just checking. Got my baby girl upstairs, you know," he said, his smile widening.

"Yeah, I heard," James said, smirking with him. "And you know I'd move to somewhere in Europe if I thought I was a problem, right? That or Japan."

"Yeah, I know that," Howard said. "Don't do that, man. Maria will never forgive you."

"She gets spoiled plenty," James said with a little wave before he pointed back at the comm. "But, you know, it wouldn't hurt to check. Feel free. But … business. I can't get bigger wires not to trigger from the EMP, so I think they're only good for one use — or one EMP. The radiation? Actual radiation will melt the insulation if that gets too high, too." He finished up a few more connections, then carefully closed it up before he gestured to the comm. "Ready for you. Take a look, then I'll get ready to take the notes."

"Oh good, then they'll be legible," Howard teased, then slipped over to handle the comm himself and get a good feel for it. He let out a low whistle. "The streamlining is a work of genius, man. That's delicate work."

"I like it to flow," James said with a shrug.

Howard smirked at that and then nodded once. "Alright. Let's see what this thing can do."

James gestured to the testing area of the lab and then took a seat well away from the closed space. "No real radiation here, just the EMP, so maybe … make sure the doors are closed right … leave the phone, unless you want my sister to skin you."

Howard had to laugh at that as he tossed the phone to James. "Good catch."

The door closed tightly behind Howard, and after that, James watched the monitors to see what was going on inside and made sure that the receiver was on so that Howard could test the comm once the EMP had gone off … and after a few moments, Howard's voice broke through the speaker.

"So, it's almost perfect, but we need to narrow the field a little more," Howard said.

"Sure, keep talking," James said in return. "And hit it with another one just so I can have my data."

Howard smirked at that, and just like that, the two of them were working in their usual, easy back and forth, with Howard calling out his notes after every test until they both felt like they had enough that they could work up a prototype for the final version.

"We'll need the soldier to do the actual test," James said. "EMP's are great, but the actual wavelength from him will make or break it."

Howard nodded. "Sounds like we have to take another field trip." He spun his finger in the air. "Yay."

"Joy of joys," James said with a tight smile. "Makes me wish alcohol did something for me."

"Lucky for me…" Howard trailed off and smirked hard.

"Right," James said as the two of them made their way to Tony's shop to fill him in on the details.

Of course, Tony was impressed by what they'd come up with, even if he wasn't too thrilled about having to go back to talk to the general again. But that was easily overshadowed by how obviously excited he was about the breakthrough James had made.

Over the next several days, that meant that James was surrounded by both Starks as they got caught up in the project, with Tony already commenting on the possibilities for the team for something like this.

"Build on this and there shouldn't be any reason for the team to ever fall out of contact with each other…" Tony was muttering to himself during the last test for their comm, almost bouncing in place with every step.

"Working on it," James said.

Tony put an absent hand on James' shoulder. "Good, good," he said, though he was still totally lost in his head, going over the ideas he wasn't even vocalizing and just grinning to himself.

The two younger men shared a look that spoke volumes about how entertaining it was when he got like this, and before long, both of them were silently handing different tools to Tony before he could ask for them, and James occasionally made notes that Tony was too wrapped up to bother with at the time.

But when the time came for them to meet with the general again, it was a little different than the times previous already. Partly because James wasn't handling the comm at all, instead letting Howard hand it over as he explained in detail to the soldiers how to work it and then made sure to explain the limitations, too. "It's only good for an SOS, really. It can take one EMP or HEMP pulse, maybe two if it's not too intense, but that's it. If there was a way to ramp it up, I would, but the nature of the device and the components make it impossible."

Before the general could complain, James turned his way. "I've exhausted every source of alternative materials on the planet. This will work — and better than I expected it would, too."

"Why aren't you touching it, then?" the general asked. "If you're the guy that builds them."

James smirked. "The same reason I can't make 'em more durable. The more metal that goes into those things — and the more metal you allow near it — the less stable it is around an EMP, HEMP, or gamma in general." He held up both hands. "I can't touch it around EMP pulses that originate from nuclear activity without frying it. Too much metal in my hands." He gestured to Howard. "The Starks have no problems with that, though."

The general raised an eyebrow, and the soldiers all seemed to pause for just a moment at James' casual reference to his adamantium skeleton before they slowed down a bit and stared at James openly. They all were near James in age, or a bit younger — and all of them were old enough to remember his time as Death.

"But you know, if it's not good enough for you to have something hand-delivered by my only son…" Tony broke in, breaking the silence.

"No, no," the man said with an almost pleased look on his face. "I just needed to hear why. I didn't expect that you'd go to those lengths to make it work."

James smiled tightly. "If I say I can do it, I can do it," he said. "And you need this if you're going to use that soldier in the field."

"We're not about to let someone get stuck just because of their genetics," Howard said. He tipped his head. "Plus, be real. This is Stark Industries. You think we're not going to break the mold? Come on."

The general shook his head. "I'd like to see how well it works, since I'm sure you have more than one ready for us if it's a one-time use."

Howard nodded. "We want to see it in use with your man himself."

"I can only recreate so much in the lab," James said. "And short of setting off a nuclear explosion — which … is a little over the top for testing — I put them through hell already. There shouldn't be a problem." He turned to the soldier that would be using them. "Be sure you keep it in the insulated case until you need it. A stray pulse would be just as bad before you're ready to try it out."

The soldier nodded his understanding and, at the word of the general, stepped up to the testing area, while the other men hung back to see how it would go.

It was exactly what you'd want out of an SOS flare: hard to miss and bright. But it absolutely worked, and it had Tony positively and obviously tickled. Even the general was looking overly pleased, again. And the soldier himself looked impressed, grinning for a moment after the test before he headed back.

"Ta da," Tony said with a smirk. "That's my boys."

"We'll leave you with what we have," James said. "If you want 'em."

The general shook his head at that. "Yes, we want them," he said. "How many do you have in stock?"

"We've got a dozen right now; try not to burn through them," Howard said. "They're expensive to make, they're for emergency use only, and no one wants to hear you guys're in trouble that often."

The general met Howard's gaze for a moment before he gestured for the three men to join him so they could sign off on the contract — and by the time the Starks and James left, Tony was nearly cackling over the whole thing.

"Oh yeah," he said, nodding seriously. "This is the best idea I've had in years. You two are going to rule the world."

James rolled his head so he was looking at Howard. "Is this just how it's gonna be now? We do something, and he preens and pats himself on the back for how smart he is forever?"

"Welcome to the family," Howard snerked, though he too was in such a good mood that he wasn't even arguing with his dad's assessment.

"I was right," Tony said, grinning. "SI's in good hands, boys."

Tony was still preening when he and James and Howard got back from the meeting with the military, though they had barely gotten through the door before James was nearly bowled over by a black and yellow blur.

"Guess who's next up in the book business!" she beamed at him.

"Does that mean you want some photos taken?" James asked. "Because I don't have the camera here."

"We can do that later," Jan said, still grinning at him. "I just got everything sorted out with Kate, and it's going to be amazing, and you were there, so you had to know!" she explained.

James shook his head as she gave him another bear hug — and this time, he picked her clean off the ground and spun her in a circle. "Hope it does as well as I think it will. Pretty sure if it was a head-to-head, you'd outsell the others. But you know. Ground breaker … all that."

Jan beamed at him. "Well, I did name the Avengers. So, you know, I should totally go first."

"I doubt the others would go for it," James said. "And if they do, it'll only be after you show them it'd work."

Jan snerked, especially when Tony looked positively insulted. "Woah, hello, first of all, no," he said.

"Are you still here, eavesdropping?" James asked. "I thought you were doing the proud peacock thing." He gestured with one hand in a shooing motion. "Don't try to steal her thunder."

Jan giggled and started shooing Tony as well. "Yeah, Tony, don't steal her thunder."

Tony shook his head at her. "What are you two even up to?"

"Well, I retired, didn't I? Time to write my book!" Jan laughed delightedly. "It'll be amazing. All about how I pioneered the way for all the best things…"

"The Avenger's sweetheart," James said with a nod.

"The best Avenger, right, James?" Jan agreed.

"Absolutely," he agreed. "Best Founder."

Jan gestured at James wordlessly, and Tony looked like he just couldn't handle it. "Oh come on!"

James couldn't help but smirk at him. "I thought my mom already taught you this: you can't buy love, Santa Stark."

"Let's get something straight," Tony said, leveling his finger at James. "I am amazing, and everyone loves me."

James was completely gone laughing by that point, though, and Jan was holding onto him for support, laughing along with him.

Tony looked between the two of them, clearly working up his complaint, but before he could get there, Howard handed him his phone, with a call already in progress. "Kate's on the phone for you, Dad."

"Oh, is that the offer to be the third installment?" James asked, with pure trouble dancing in his eyes. "You know… since Steve already said yes?"

"Thi - third installment?" Tony looked even more incensed.

"Yeah," James said, grinning wider at him. "Who doesn't wanna read Captain America's memoirs?"

Tony glared at him for a moment before he simply stalked off with the phone pressed to his ear, and they could hear him telling Kate off for not coming to him first and of course he should lead out since he was the one that started the team not to mention that he was used to being in the public eye.

By that point, even Howard was on the floor laughing at the scene — and Jan was completely unable to pull herself together, holding onto James for support and clutching her stomach from laughing so hard.

"Oh, we have to do this every single day," she gasped out.

"You wanna tell him it was my idea or do you want me to?" James asked.

"I guarantee you Kate will," Jan giggled.

"Oh good," James laughed, grinning harder, though when Kate did tell Tony the truth, he was the one to catch it simply because Tony just went quiet. He snerked to himself and quickly schooled the smile down to a neutral expression — which had Howard laughing harder all over again, since he had zero poker face and couldn't figure out how James even did that.

By the time Tony got off the phone, having agreed to the book deal, of course, Jan was wiping tears from her eyes before she rushed over to hug Tony too. "I can't think of anyone better to be our third stringer," she said before she simply fell apart laughing all over again, holding onto him for support.

James kept the straight face, waiting to see where Tony was going to run with it — and with something he was dying to point out that would only have the competition between the three of them going completely bonkers before the books were even printed.

But with Jan half draped over Tony, the only thing Tony could do was to shove her gently in the shoulder to get her to back off. "Oh, shut up." He pointed at James. "You too."

"You're missing the big picture," James said. "And I can't believe you're missing the big picture."

"The big picture that I am the best Avenger?" Tony shot back.

"Most popular sure," James said with a tip of his head. "So you know ... " He smirked at Jan, letting the trouble show for just a split second. "You need a couple warmups, right?"

Jan's jaw dropped, and Howard hit the floor, completely unable to hold himself up, especially when Tony started to crack up laughing as Jan darted over to hit James in the shoulder. "Shut up!" she said.

"Come on," James laughed, though he pulled her into a hug. "You'll get their attention. Yours will kick it off — as it should be. And by the time his biggest fans — who probably can't read anyhow — get a hold of it … they'll all be bestsellers."

"So you're saying he's selling table centerpieces," Jan said, starting to get back her grin.

"I don't know what that means," James said. "But sure."

"You know — those books that people set out on the table to look like they read but they never even crack it open?" Jan said. "Those."

"No," James said, shaking his head. "That's my book."

Jan rolled her eyes at that. "Um, yours is a book of photographs. People don't read it; they look at it. It's supposed to be a coffee table book."

"No one's gonna open 'em," James said, still smiling.

"You're just so wrong," Jan said, shaking her head. "So just stand there, be wrong, and make sure you write a forward in my book about how I'm the best Avenger, okay?"

"Yeah, alright," James said, smirking to himself and brewing an idea already. "Cap already asked me to, though, so …"

Jan hit him in the shoulder. "Um. No. I'm your favorite. You have to tell the truth."

"But he's Cap."

"And?" Jan said, drawing herself up. "I'm the Wasp! And your favorite. So ha!"

"Technically, my Dad's my favorite, but ... "

Jan sized him up for a second before she simply had to let out a long breath. "Oh…. fine."

"Close second," James promised before he kissed her cheek. "Must be the color scheme."

"I totally rock my look," Jan agreed, beaming at him. "And everyone knows it."

James looked over to Tony. "Did she offer up the photographer thing for you too? Or you going elsewhere?"

"Yeah, no, you're booked up, kid. Make sure to get my good side," Tony said, shaking his head.

James nodded. "You might want to look through the stuff I already have. Goes back almost as long as you've been pushing me."

"Oooh, yes!" Jan grinned. "I love the one of Santa Stark with the teeny tiny X-kiddies from, like, ten years ago… that's the best!"

Tony turned toward James. "Yeah, I'm gonna have to see half this stuff. Clearly."

"Just half? Okay," James said, nodding. "Then I'll filter out the ones I don't think you need to see."

"Not that they're not good," Steve added, joining the group with a grin and clearly having been laughing for quite some time. "Just the ones he doesn't think you need to see."

"Oh, you'll share with Steve and not me?" Tony accused James.

"He's caught me editing," James said. "And he's helped me edit a few, too."

"He's the one that helped Kari learn how to draw from a photograph," Jan put in. She beamed at James. "Between you and Steve… she's got plenty of inspiration!"

James made his way over to Tony and put his arm over his shoulders. "You were too busy worrying about making sure I was being smart enough. Missed the other stuff entirely."

"Your loss!" Jan sang out, cackling madly.

Tony shook his head and then leveled a finger James' way. "That's it. You're showing me this stuff."

"When?"

"Right now. C'mon, kid," Tony said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder and hooking his arm around James' shoulders.

James let out a sigh at that. "I don't have all the drives here. Just … two."

"Great. We'll start there, and then I'll decide how much I wanna hit you over the head from there."

"You won't," James said. "I'd have started you on different drives than what's here. But ... Jan was looking over the older ones for ones she wanted printed."

Tony gestured for James to walk ahead of him. "Let's see 'em, then."

James was shaking his head still all the way through setting up the external drive and opening the first file before he stepped back and gestured with one hand. "Knock yourself out."

Tony shook his head before he dove in… though by the time he got to the pictures Jan had mentioned from one of the Christmases he went to the institute, he was grinning. "Oh yeah," he said, nodding slowly. "That's a good one."

"Gonna have to narrow it down," James said. "There are a few on there."

He pointed at the one of him getting mobbed by Malin and Nina, with Kade sitting on K's shoulders and clearly directing the mobbing. "That. Is exactly what happens. Every year. Most accurate picture ever."

"General Mom?" James asked. "Because that's a daily thing."

"The whole thing," Tony laughed. He leaned back and grinned up at James. "I'm gonna need to see all of these. And look through some of Pete's from before you were born." He was tenting his fingers, clearly already plotting and planning. "Yes. I can work with this."

"Uh-huh," James said, shaking his head. "Then you missed the one of you and Mom, huh? Christmas day-drinking?"

Tony grinned and then minimized the window so that James could see it was one of the cycled pictures on his desktop background. "Oh yeah. Completely missed it."

"She'll murder you," he said. "Not me."

"I won't put it in the book," Tony argued.

"That's good, because then Dad would murder you."

Tony chuckled and then reached over to ruffle James' hair. "Okay, okay. You can back off and tell your boss back at Bishop Publishing that you did your job."

"Auntie Chicken Hawk already knows," James said, once again smirking at him. "This was my idea, after all."

Tony shook his head and smacked him upside the back of the head this time. "And that's for letting Jan get ahead of me. I'll never live that down. And I blame you."

"You saying you'd rather be second and let Cap close it out?"

"Shut up, James; I'm taking the deal; now you can just… cut it out, you punk."

He smiled at him for that and held up both hands. "Did you want more drives, or is that enough for this lifetime? I don't have them sorted out by subject … just … years. Because otherwise, I'm just gonna leave this here for you and Steve. You can see the newest one last."

"Yeah, keep 'em coming, kiddo," Tony said, smirking and shaking his head.

James nodded then turned to meet Jan on the way out, sure to pull her into another hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. "It's like this all the time."

"This was so fun," she said, beaming at him. "Next time you wanna wind Tony up, let me know, huh?" she said, then hit him in the shoulder.

"Will do," he promised. "Careful about hitting me so hard. You'll break something."

"I'll be careful," she said, then made sure to hug him one more time, making a big deal of treating him like glass and cackling to herself.

"You and Kate had a good time at your meeting, didn't you?" he laughed. "Don't suppose you're in the market for a bodyguard … that is totally useless to me?"

Jan laughed. "Yeah, I heard about that. That's okay; I don't need the help."

"Neither do I … but here we are. And Happy did not appreciate the note I left for him at all."

Jan and Tony both snerked. "Yeah, I'm sure," she giggled.

"It was the 'love, Death' that threw him," Tony laughed. "The X's and O's didn't help either."

Jan dropped her jaw and then couldn't help but burst into a laugh and hug James again.

Howard finally managed to pull James aside after that, still grinning and laughing. "Oh, speaking of photography… you're still on for Maria, right?"

"Yep. First birthday. Has to be done," James agreed. "If you want, I can come up with a few really cute ones before the party that'll make your dad cry."

Howard grinned. "Yes. Please," he said, throwing his arm around James' shoulders as they headed off to discuss the plans for the tiny Stark festivities.