justinq719: 1. How paranoid is Virgil right now?
2. Is it wrong for me to fear for Harry Osborn's future?
3. Is Virgil, Athena, and Gaige going be caught up in Tony's battles for the next chapter?
4. Nice Terminator reference, Mr. Stark.
Iron Man to the rescue, again.
Re: In-order…
1. Yes. Very.
2. Not necessarily. In this incarnation (Earth-16) Lex Luthor isn't as-much-evil as his Earth-12 counterpart (Justice League, Justice League Unlimited). In Earth-12, Lex Luthor is a full-on Supervillain and it's no big secret; everyone knows it, he goes to revolving door prisons, etc. In Earth-16, Luthor's brand of evil is more… subtle. Like a politician.
While Earth-12 Luthor's evil is motivated by spite and genuine criminal intent, Earth-16 Luthor's "evil" (note the air quotes) is motivated by a desire to "better humanity" so they can remain "competitive" in the universe against technologically-superior alien races. Think… Ukko Joukahainen aka "Ukko Jukes" from Earth Unaware, the first novel of the Formic War Trilogy, the prequel to Ender's Game. Listened to it with OverDrive, it was a blast.
In short, it's all a spectrum.
3. More on Earth-16H Tony Stark this-chapter, but I've left clues and hints to imply this version is radically different than his Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999) counterpart.
4. Well, he heard some of the screaming and figured, it'd be appropriate. Also, it just felt so… "Tony"; "such a 'Tony' thing to do."
MagicalGeek: Well... I hope Stark has a better presentation
Re: Not!A high bar to set…
Jebest4781: this was really enjoyable and loved how this turned out throughout the whole chapter! great way to somewhat play with the set up with Iron Man 2 with the HammerTech failure on Justin's version of the Iron Man suit. and boy can see Lex liking Virgil quite well after what they discussed
Re: Yeah, that was my favorite scene of Iron Man 2, the guy who did the voiceover for the test pilot's scream really sold it, especially the way it suddenly cut out instead of gradually; the only reason it stuck with me so-much over the years is because it got referenced in Doctor Strange a while later. Honestly, I'm surprised that test pilot did survive, even fictionally, though there's no effing way that guy's ever walking again. I mean, when you consider that his upper body was in a fixed position when it turned, away from the spine… Guy had to have looked like apair of sausage links, because his spine was sheared completely in half by that torqueing action.
As for Luthor liking Virgil, it's because he isn't a "sheep" that worships the ground superheroes walk on, which is ultimately the kind of world he's trying to create in the main Earth-16 universe.
fallendemon248: Terminator reference...awesome always trust stark to save the day in the end
Re: Favorite actor of all time. If he ever appears in another movie, I'm going to see it just because of the Star Power he carries on his shoulders. Anything with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in it, I'll see it. Anything with Robert Downey Jr., guess what, I'm seeing it.
superpierce: So Tony didn't become a hero or at least didn't decide to destroy all his weapons being used by terrorists. and instead decided to be reasonable and controlled how his Armors would be used in the military so they would not be used for killing. curious what made him decide differently
Re: As the original "Armor Wars" arc (Iron Man (Vol. 1) #225 (December 1987) to #231 (June 1988)) shows, even though Tony stopped manufacturing weapons, the tech that had already been sold and distributed was still out there, and given the Justice League already exists, Tony's "moral obligation" to become a Superhero isn't "as high". At the very least however, he could protect people by selling powered armors and next-generation body armor. There's still plenty of uses for Flight Armor in things like Reconnaissance, and voiding the warranty might not seem like that big a deterrent, but when you stop to consider that Stark's Tech would have the classic work-in of "Non-Standard Parts", and it becomes easier to control whether his Flight Armor has guns mounted on it or not. Also, because the designs are Patented, people can't just copy his Proprietary tech without facing massive lawsuits, hence why there's still the LexCorp Police Series Battlesuit, the S.T.R.I.P.E. Armor, and… whatever the hell Hammer was making.
And even if someone did hijack a suit of his Flight-Capable Power Armor, he could just pass a couple of [Negator Packs] to the Justice League and let them handle it.
As for "what made him decide differently" after the SFIB hit him, it's because there were already an abundance of superheroes flying around by the time that happened; the Justice Society in the World War II era was proof-enough that spectacular beings already existed, so Tony didn't feel the same "obligation" as he did his Earth-199999 counterpart to save the world, because "there's already someone on it".
Jamius: Nice chapter, yeah tbh, when the "I would just like to say that pilot survived" was said I thought to myself, "HOW?!". Also don't bother catering to my sensibilities, make your story my dude. I mean your unlikely to do anything to "offend" me I think aside from doing anything massively out of character for someone established could bug me. Pulling a Rowling basically.
Re: When you consider the fact that the armor got twisted around like a twist-off on the neck of a bottle, I imagine his spine got snapped clean in half, and all of his entrails swirled around. As for "pulling a Rowling", I assume you mean J.K. Rowling? Because that's the only one I know.
guisniperman: As soon as I read the description of the Armor I knew that poor pilot was gonna suffer until the end of his extremely shortened life... like the scene at the tribunal in the movie.
Re: Yeah… Your noble sacrifice will not be forgotten, random test pilot.
WolfSPARTAN062: HOT DAMN! Was that a wonderful waste of several days worth of binge reading this entire story! This totally reminds me of the cartoons I grew up watching. TBH I really do hope Gaige drops her ...thing for Vergil at some point in the near future. I personally like the chemistry you have built between Athena and Vergil. Keep up the good work, cant wait for the next chapter.
Re: Well~ I'm always glad to hear people binge-read my work~ Shows I got them hooked and they stayed hooked to the very "end"~ As for reminding you of the cartoons you grew up watching, is it a "formulaic" kind of thing where there isn't action every "episode", but every "episode" adds something to the storyline overall? As for Gaige… Who can say where this story will go? But as far as the romance angle goes, it isn't an A-to-B kinda thing, it'll be more-complicated than that; just like navigating storyline across comic book publications.
LuckyShadowWolf: Well I'm glad to see that is no longer screwing things to the point I can't see new chapters or whats getting updated, and that I thought to check the recently updated list for my profile! And speaking of said incidents since they seem to be occurring with greater frequency I have to ask Neo (And apologies since I know I brought it up before but I honestly feel it needs to be pondered again) is there any chance that you plan to start posting this story on another site like Space Battles, Sufficient Velocity, or similar in case such a thing occurs again? Anyhow on to my thoughts on this chapter I want to start off with Luthor's parting thought in regards to Vergil's views and what they discussed being "…enlightening." I have to wonder if with his knowing Vergil's viewpoints in regards to aliens and seeing his capability in utilizing the power armor for dealing with Osborns Goblin attack will he be keeping note of Vergil and possibly inviting him into a subordinate position in the Light in future. And if he does keep tabs on Vergil will he do so to the point that he would figure out his agent and suit clad activities and try to bring him in, in the same vein as Sports Master was an agent of the Light. Beyond that I have a simple question. Is the reason that Tony was there to pick them up due to Hammer deciding to be an arrogant hot air balloon and gloated to Tony about what exactly he was going to do to convince Athena to join his company. And Tony being Tony just read the writing on the wall and decided to play the get away driver for when Hammer's demonstration failed? Anyway great chapter as always and I bet Vergil is wishing he did have to use his pistol instead of seeing that testing malfunction.
Re: If it starts getting bad-enough I might start posting on Space Battles, but until it reaches that point, I'll stick things out here since the site's held up pretty well since my start back in 2009, and I'm surprised I've been writing for that long…
Moving on! As for Luthor taking note of him, a man like him is always on the lookout for good help, which historically, is notoriously-difficult to acquire. As for potentially giving him a job, Virgil already has a gig, and he didn't give off the kind of vibe of being "fanatical" to a cause, only "outspoken", so Luthor would leave the boy to his piece, since that's the sort of thing he's trying to create a better world to support; a world where a young man can pursue gainful employment and not have to worry about alien invasions every ten minutes. As for Luthor finding out about his connections to FoxCry, that isn't likely because Virgil doesn't blab about it, and Foxhound and CryNet both do cover-up work. "David Washburn" has his own paperwork and identity, and if Luthor tried to investigate the goings-on of FoxCry, it'd open him up to counter-investigation and possibly expose The Light by the same measure.
As for Tony being there right when they needed him, freak coincidence. Nothing too-deep about it.
Blaze1992: It wasn't that bad, they are overreacting a tad bit.
Re: It isn't so-much that they were overreacting to the What as they were to the When; "When" in this case being the amount of time it occurred in. There wasn't anything to hint the power armor would fail so-spectacularly, so it's the suddenness of the event that causes them to react so (last-chapter). Had Virgil, Athena, or Gaige been given any kind of foreshadowing, they might've been more-composed because they would've had "an inkling" that it would've happened. Because of the suddenness, they did not.
*ARMOR WARS*
Malibu Highway
November 25, 8:29 PDT
"Sooo… What're we talkin' here? Wardrobe malfunction, or horrible industrial accident?" the handsome man said driving down the coastline road, the waves beautiful and rolling, the cool November air washing over the Spyder and its occupants.
"Just… drive…" Athena groaned trying to keep her breakfast down, sitting behind the passenger seat.
"Oof, that bad, huh?" the man hummed.
"Tony… Stark… Happy to meet ya, huge fan, looove the facial hair," Gaige greeted from directly behind him. "Listen, do you have a barf bag or something? 'thena's bout to blow chunks all over your leather seats."
"Got a Burger King bag if you want it," Tony said holding up a depleted fast food bag.
The next moment Gaige snatched it out of his hand before passing it to Athena, the girl proceeding to upend the contents of her stomach into it a half-second later.
God was merciful that day, because the paper held.
"Well, glad I chose today for my cheat day," the man declared.
"God I feel horrible…" Athena groaned.
"You got any napkins?" Gaige asked.
"I did. They were in the bag."
" . . . Shit!" the ginger swore. "I hope this won't reflect poorly on Athena's chances."
"Kid, trust me, I've had a few of those myself, you won't get any flak from me," Tony returned kindly.
"Thank you… Mr. Stark," Athena returned.
"'Mr. Stark' was my father. Call me 'Tony'."
"Thank you… Tony," she responded gratefully.
"Soooo… Not that we're not grateful and all, but how'd you know to come pick us up?" Virgil asked.
"Eh, needed to get out of the office, thought I'd pick you up in person, shoot the breeze," Tony replied. "My old college buddy Lex gave me a call this morning. Really sang your praises. That was part of it too," he admitted. "By the look on your faces, I take it you're happy I did?"
"Like you wouldn't believe…" Virgil groaned.
"So, care to tell me what happened back there?"
"Can't. Confidentiality agreement," Gaige grumbled.
"Did he actually make you sign anything?" Tony asked knowingly.
"No… No, he didn't!" Gaige gasped.
"Yeah, that sounds like Justin Hammer. Always eager to run his mouth before the ink is dry," Tony nodded. "So, care to share?"
"Long story short; power armor, went horribly wrong," Gaige retched, dry-heaving into the bag only for her breakfast to stay rooted in place.
"Short story long; Hammer's attempting to make bootleg versions of your flight-capable armor, turn infantry 'into attack helicopters'. He asked the pilot to turn right, the suit-"
"Over-compensated and twisted him in half like a twist-cap?" Tony filled in.
"Yeah… How did you know that?"
"I figured, but didn't want to assume," Tony sighed. "Sounds just the sort of thing he'd let slip through the cracks."
"Uhhh… Guys!" Gaige squeaked, tapping Virgil frantically on the shoulder before jerking a thumb to the rear. The brunette looking over, winced as three identical black SUVs with tinted windows started closing the distance on them. "We got company!"
"Honestly, did they have to pick the most evil-looking rides they had?" Tony asked skeptically.
"They're gonna kill us…" Athena muttered. "We saw too much, and now, they're going, to kill us…!" she said hyperventilating.
"Athena, Athena, calm down!" Virgil said shaking her shoulder, the girl unresponsive. "ATHENA!" he shouted, the girl looking up at him before he leaned in and gave her a searing kiss. Her eyes going wide, she melted into his arms after a few moments, her trembling abating before they separated. "No-one's going to die. I promise you," he said reassuringly, the black vans in spitting distance. "Gaige. Hand me the barf bag."
"O-Okay, but what're you gonna-"
*SPLAT!*
"WHOO! One down, two to go!" Tony whooped as the first car was forced to pull over, its windshield covered in yellow-ish vomit intermingled with fruit and vegetable chunks, its windshield wipers making things worse. "So, what now?"
"This," Virgil growled drawing his sidearm.
The world growing painfully-bright, pupils dilating to take in excess light, on the exhale he discharged two rounds into the front of the leading van, striking the radiator. Moments later and thick white smoke began to billow up from around the hood, the lead car forced to pull over, the one behind it following suit.
"Not that I don't appreciate a good power play, but was that completely necessary?" Tony groused.
"We'll still be alive ten minutes from now and not 'silenced', so yeah, 'completely necessary'," Virgil answered holstering his gun.
The next moment the dashboard's central screen began to ring, the Caller ID revealing the name of the caller.
"Don't answer it!" Athena cried.
"Don't worry, Justin doesn't have it in him to do something super evil," Tony returned. "Not when this whole mess is trending on Facebook, Justin, hey, how's it goin'?" he asked hitting the green button.
"Tony! Did you just shoot at me?!" Justin Hammer's terrified voice yelped.
"Nope, it was the protective boyfriend of the poor girl you traumatized," Tony answered smoothly. "By the way, how'd your boys like their breakfast to-go?"
"Stark… Tony. This is all just a huge misunderstanding."
"Oh, so you're saying you weren't trying to make bootleg Stark International-brand Flight Armor to later mount guns on."
"Hu-How did you-"
"You aren't as subtle as you think you are," Tony returned noncommittally, saying nothing to implicate his passengers. "Anyway, I'll be conducting that job interview now, seeing as how they left-"
"You stole them from me!"
"No, as I recall, they climbed in of their own free will," Tony countered. "Gotta- -ang up go- int- -unnel," he said brokenly before cutting the call short.
" . . . Nice!" Gaige grinned.
"Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week," Tony grinned.
"Can… Can you sign…?"
"Let's save the autographs for when we're well away from here, eh?"
"R-R-Right," Gaige nodded. "Don't distract the driver. Got it."
*ARMOR WARS*
10880 Malibu Point
November 25, 9:12 PDT
One scenic drive later, instead of pulling into the Stark International headquarters, they were instead pulling up the long drive to Tony Stark's private residence; Gaige as a literal card-carrying member of his fan club recognized it on sight alone, and was visibly drooling.
"Gaige, dial it back," Athena hissed under her breath.
"R-Right… Sorry," she said embarrassingly wiping her chin.
"Not that this isn't a nice place, but why are we here?" Virgil asked.
"Thought we'd do something a little more… informal, at the beginning," Tony shrugged as he pulled into the underground driveway, swooping down and to the right before arriving at a luxurious underground garage, home to a litany of high-end cars, each of which cost more than the average American made in a year.
There to greet them was a red-headed woman near Tony's age with her hair pulled up in a bun, clad in a white pantsuit, angrily storming towards them.
"Anthony Edward Stark!" she shouted angrily, brows furrowed and arms pumping.
"Run. Save yourselves," Tony whispered to the three of them.
The next moment Athena, Virgil, and Gaige slinked out of the passenger door and squat-walked toward the stairs avoiding eye contact.
"I didn't mean literally!" Tony hissed before Pepper stopped right next to him. "Pepper! Hi! How's it goin'?" he asked nervously.
*ARMOR WARS*
" . . . You think he's gonna be okay down there?" Gaige asked worriedly from the living room, torn between concern for one of her idols, and drooling over the accommodations to be had at his private residence.
That ocean view was spectacular!
"Well, way I see it, one of two things can break. Either his secretary's voice does, or the sexual tension between them and the internet gets another wildly-inappropriate story out of it," Athena said as she thoroughly washed her mouth out.
She most certainly wasn't blushing like a schoolgirl at the thought of how-easily her boyfriend kissed her full-on the lips even after she'd hurled into a paper bag.
"You think Tony will mind if I raid his liquor cabinet? Because I am way too sober for this shit," Virgil stated moving toward the kitchen.
"I am sorry, sir, but after 'The Tequila Incident', it is no longer permitted for under-age teenagers to drink alcoholic beverages on the premises," a stately British-sounding voice said from the speakers.
"Ohmygod it's the Terminator!" Athena squealed.
"More like Hal-9000," Gaige corrected. "Hello, Jarvis."
"Hello, Ms. Gagne. Are you aware there's an outstanding warrant for your arrest in the state of California?"
" . . . I command you, not to inform the authorities," she said after an awkward moment. "Please?"
"Very well. The charges against you seemed trumped-up anyhow," Jarvis returned.
"Oh thank god…"
"How'd you know this thing's name?" Virgil asked.
"Oh, Mr. Stark has one of those 'Smart-Houses', and Jarvis is wired into everything. Our fanclub had a power point presentation about it one time," Gaige answered. "We wanted to get the school wired that way, but the PTA got into a hissy fit about an AI 'taking over the school' or some nonsense.
"A perfectly valid concern. Inferior Blueboxes have been known to cause AI to go Rampant in the past," Jarvis returned.
"Wasn't that the plot of an episode of Recess?" Virgil asked raising a brow.
"Well that's an obscure reference if there ever was one," Gaige hummed.
"I can do normal stuff too, you know… Like mind-numbingly channel surf for hours on end… If I can find the time…" he trailed off awkwardly.
"Hey there, kiddos. Mommy and daddy finished arguing," Tony said a while later as he ascended the steps, a still-perturbed-looking Pepper on his trail, breathing tiredly in a way that said that song and dance had been done before.
"Oh, so the two of you didn't bang in the garage like horny teenagers. Good for you," Virgil hummed causing Pepper to sputter indignantly. "Oh please, you know Tony's banged in weirder places."
"I can immediately recall one-hundred and thirty-seven confirmed cases if that helps the argument."
"Jarvis! Down!" Pepper snapped.
"Of course, ma'am."
"Sooo… Mr. Hammer was making bootleg flight-capable power armor?" she asked turning to Athena.
"He said as much aloud, yes," the blond replied. "I give it another ten, twenty years before he has something even remotely marketable."
"Really? I would've given it a flat twenty at the earliest," Tony hummed, Pepper shooting him a look that caused him to rebound with- "It's a shame what happened to that pilot, though…"
"If that guy does manage to survive, god is either very merciful, or very, very, veeery cruel," Virgil shuddered.
And he'd seen plenty of evidence indicative of the latter…
"Oh? I didn't take you for the overly-religious type," Tony hummed.
"When you see a possessed muscle car get exorcised with a blessed silver cross from the Vatican, that's more than enough to believe in the power of the almighty," Virgil shrugged.
" . . . I should probably go to church after this," Gaige answered nervously after a moment.
"How 'bout we shelve talk of politics and religion until after the interview," Tony hummed. "But first! Mr. Valentine."
"Hm?"
"I hear you gave one of Luthor's toys a test drive the other day. The Gamma Series Police Battlesuit if I'm not mistaken."
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't," Virgil said noncommittally. "Why you asking?"
"Just curious how it rode, is all," Tony shrugged.
" . . . Hard to say. Riding flying powered armor was completely new for me. Don't really have anything to compare it against."
"You don't say…" Tony hummed aloud. "In that case, I have a proposition for you."
"Oh?"
"See, I'm working on a set of Modular Flight Armor designed to fit around more than one body type; tall, short, thin, low-end husky. So that people can use it on rotation. I'm about to move onto Human Testing, but training up a completely new pilot on power armor flight dynamics feels like a bit of a chore…"
'I don't like where this is going…'
"So! Seeing as how you already have some experience, but not enough to be a pro at it, how about you give the new gear a test flight for me? See which handles better between Luthor's anti-grav or my repulsor-tech."
" . . . Even if I entertained the notion of climbing into one of those screaming metal death traps again, there isn't enough money in the world to make me-"
"I'll give you ten grand if you say 'yes'."
"Double, or nothin'."
"Deal."
" . . . Fuck!" Virgil swore.
"What's wrong?" Pepper asked.
"If I knew your boss was gonna cave so-easily, I'd have asked for more."
"Heheh. Sellout~" Gaige giggled.
"I prefer the term 'self-rented'."
"Hey, at least the kid's honest," Tony shrugged.
"Still though, he's a minor," Pepper chided.
"So's Robin. Hell, Robin's even younger."
"What kind of argument is that?!"
"Oh! Em! Gee! This is so exciting!" Gaige squealed happily. "I gotta take pictures!"
"Fine, but don't put it on Facebook," Tony chided.
At this Gaige wilted.
"I'm kidding, put it up on Facebook."
Gaige beamed.
"Now then… Let's get going to the Car Wash," Tony said walking off.
"To the what?" Virgil asked confusedly.
*ARMOR WARS*
The exact details of Tony Stark's escape from the Ten Rings terrorist organization in Afghanistan were a closely-guarded state secret. However, the leading theory as to how he escaped, despite never having a day of formal combat training in his life, actually came out of Afghanistan.
Supposedly, an "مرد آهنی" or "Iron Man" (when translated from the there-native Persian (Dari)) murdered its way to freedom out of the Ten Rings tunnel network, activating all the stored munitions in its wake with "dragon fire" before "ascending to heaven". That Tony Stark was rescued the same day was hardly a coincidence, and the rumors that Tony Stark had created a flight-capable suit of power armor were only further validated when a few months later, Tony Stark released a line of flight-capable powered suits to the US Air Force, management of which was run by his personal friend James Rupert "Rhodey" Rhodes.
Why was this important?
Well, because when Tony Stark took them all to his personal laboratory, which was adjacent to the garage for when components were delivered, the three teens' jaws collectively dropped as they beheld display cases holding "Iron Man" suits of various configurations.
Furthest on the left was the "Mark II", an all-chrome number and the first set of powered armor that Tony made after returning to the states; the rivets were still visible, but it was a clear step up from what he made "in a cave, with a box of scraps" if the rumors were to be believed. Another armor was clearly for underwater exploration if the bubble helmet and bulky limbs was any indicator. Another was thinner and all-black like ink, obviously for stealth. The one next to that had extendable arms with industrial-strength claws, possibly for disaster rescue. One was all gray with massive jackhammer-like weapons on the arms that looked like they could pulverize reinforced concrete like Styrofoam. The last one down the line, colored white and gray with gold accents, looked like a space shuttle had been skinned and slapped over it.
Each one was a monumental feat in mechanical engineering, and yet, having been in a legit bunker once before, Virgil couldn't help but notice that the cases weren't completely affixed to the walls, but instead looked like they were designed to descend; possibly into a "wine cellar" of sorts where even more armors could be kept. Like in those vending machines overseas you could buy cars out of.
"HaauuUuughhh…" Gaige… okay, some kind of noise was coming out of her mouth, but there wasn't a word to really articulate. It was a mix between gawping, yawning, drooling, and an aroused moan that came out of her mouth, and the quivering of her legs gave credence to the latter.
"Ditto…" Athena added absently patting at Gaige's arm as her eyes locked onto the space shuttle-colored unit.
"That's… an absurd amount of zeros I'm looking at…" Virgil gawped as he stared at the unit with the bubble helmet.
"Some guys fix up cars, I… also fix up cars, but now my thing's power armor," Tony amended after a pause since he did in fact fix up both cars, and power armor. "I won't bother asking you not to tell anyone about this, people already suspect with all the custom-tooled hardware I have shipped here."
"That is one… awesome-looking hobby," Gaige said wiping her chin yet again.
"How… How deep can that thing go?" Vincent asked, still staring at the unit he'd fixated on. "Mind you, I assume that's a bubble helmet for deep-sea exploration since you already look like you've made the bastard love child between power armor and the space shuttle," he admitted.
"Jury's still up on that one. For some reason, I can't stop the recycled air from tasting like sentient fartsafter a few hours," Tony answered casually as he went over to a cabinet at the side of the room, snapping his fingers to wave Virgil over. "First things first, strip down so you can put on this jock strap. Can't exactly 'calibrate' with the armor on now can you? After that's on, put this cover-all on and pull the draw cords."
The first garment was just a jock strap, which Virgil held embarrassingly and really hoped wasn't second-hand. The "cover-all" that Tony handed him, markedly less-so; it was black and gray with thick red piping, and looked… remarkably more-comfortable than what Luthor had offered him, to be honest.
Stepping toward the corner and pulling his shirt over his head, feeling an invisible pressure on him he pulled his shirt back down in time to see Athena and Gaige quickly averting their eyes.
"Girls, do I need to find a bathroom, or can I get some legitimate privacy?" he asked incredulously.
Pepper for her part grabbed the two by the back of the head and turned them around.
"Thank you, miss," Virgil said with a bow of the head.
Stripping out of his clothes and orienting his hardware in the jock strap, he then drew the cover-all over his body, slipping his thumbs through the holes and his big toes into the dedicated slots, before finding a pair of draw-strings at chest level. Giving himself a quick once-over to ensure everything was in place, he then drew the cords out, which then retracted as the suit began to tighten around his frame, a small- "Eep!" -leaving his lips as he felt it conform ludicrously with his gluteus maximi.
"Huh. Glad I picked out the right size," Tony shrugged.
" . . . What would've happened if you didn't?" Virgil asked warily.
"Worst wedgie, ever. Of all time."
" . . . Just for that I want half my money wired to me, right now."
"What, you think I'm gonna stiff you?"
"Just forward the damn money before I give you the worst wedgie-"
"Right, right. Jarvis?"
"Forwarding ten-thousand dollars now, sir."
Virgil's phone pinging form where he'd left it in his pants, he saw a notification from the bank signaling an addition of $10,000 to his savings account.
" . . . Alright. Let's get this over with. Where do I go now?"
"Just stand on that pedestal, and the Car Wash will do its work," Tony said gesturing to a raised dais in the center of the room, a pair of yellow footprints waiting for him.
" . . . "
Following the man's instructions, chanting- "It's for the twenty-grand." -to himself like a mantra, the moment his feet were on the footprints, the dais beneath his feet began to rumble and hum.
The floor to the front and sides of him folding down, the lower tier of the ring suddenly oriented upward into an arch, a number of manipulator arms taking hold of armor components brought up to them from below on magnetic conveyors began to orient themselves, laser lights scanning his body and synching to the red piping on his cover-all. A pair of metal boots split up the side like ski shoes rising up from below, with a prompting from Tony he stepped into them, the boots snapping shut and locking him in place, armor pieces being attached upward until his knees were covered. A pair of gauntlets extending toward him, the teen reached up and slid his forearms into place, the "Car Wash" pulling him spread eagle as armor pieces were set into place on his torso, abdomen, shoulders, and groin. Thick silver bands located at his biceps, abdomen, and thighs, the bands telescoped down toward the gauntlets, waist, and boots before orienting themselves smooth
The last piece to come on was the helmet that encapsulated his head, the face plate coming down smothering him in darkness aside from two horizontal eye slats. A second later and blue blinking lights assaulted his eyes, a representation of the lab in front of him forming not dissimilarly from what the Nanosuit did, making it look like he wasn't wearing a helmet at all.
The manipulator arms retreating back into the three-quarter ring which then fell back into place at the floor, the suit moved similarly to Athena's, but much more smoothly. Looking in a body-length mirror to his left, he saw that while the gauntlets and boots were solid, the arms and legs were covered in mechanical sleeves of a sort, not unlike the armor of the Titanium Man, his body armor designed with a bit of flexibility in mind, because the armor of his torso was composed of overlapping plates instead of a single piece. Color-wise, the majority of the armor was a cobalt blue, while the face plate and limbs were a shiny chrome.
What drew his attention next was the circle in the center of his chest, roughly the size of a hockey puck, glowing a luminous shade of white, an unfamiliar thrumming pressing against his chest through the armor encapsulating him.
"This thing won't make me grow a third arm, will it?" he asked worriedly.
Getting irradiated once was one time plenty.
"No, of course not, the Arc Reactor isn't nuclear," Tony waved off.
"Then what's in the reactor?"
"Originally I used Palladium, atomic number 46 and not radioactive. In fact, the largest use of Palladimu today is in catalytic converters. Had to change it out after a while."
"How does it make the power, then, if it's not nuclear?"
"The circular part of the Arc Reactor has highly-energized particles moving in an orbiting path due to the magnetic field acting upon them, thus generating energy through particle collisions, much like how-"
"Hold up… you mean I'm wearing a literal Particle Accelerator?!" he squawked.
"Yup."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Athena asked.
"Only a little," Tony said holding his fingers a few centimeters apart. "It's totally safe," he said undoing the buttons of his shirt, revealing one such piece of tech literally embedded in his chest. "If it's good-enough to keep the electromagnet suspending the shrapnel away from my heart running, it's good-enough for flight-capable power armor."
" . . . Even the government wouldn't buy walking bombs and strap them to their spec ops guys, so I'll just have to take your word for it," Virgil conceded.
The next moment Gaige flung herself against him, arms wrapping around his armored abdominal while the side of her face was pressed against the circular window on his chest. With a completely contented look on her face as she basked in the light emitting from the Arc Reactor, Virgil awkwardly held his arms up and away from her body since he didn't want to crush her by accident.
"Oh, go ahead, bring it in," Athena sighed with a wave of her hand, Virgil awkwardly twining his arms around the ginger's slender frame, the girl genius sighing contentedly as she leaned further into the embrace.
"I feel so safe in your arms."
"Awww," Tony cooed. "Why don't you ever hold me like that?" he teased.
Pepper kept her face schooled in a neutral expression.
"Sooo… What exactly do you want me to do? Fly around the city at my own leisure, or through some augmented reality hoops like a racing game?" Virgil asked.
"I'll take you through some maneuvers myself," Tony said hanging his suit on a nearby hook, the others turning away. "It's a lovely day out, be a shame not to fly myself."
"Do you fly often?" Virgil asked, Gaige too contented with nuzzling against his chest plate to worry about ogling her idol.
"Oh yeah, all the time," Tony waved off as he slipped into his "pre-flight suit" with practiced ease, the draw cords tightening his suit around an athletic frame. "Once you're hooked, you're hooked," he said stepping over to the platform.
As opposed to Virgil's armor which was designed to conform to a number of body types and heights, Mr. Stark's was all-custom, every piece solid and interlocking with greater complexity than the one he'd be field testing. In terms of aerodynamics alone, Tony's armor was far sleeker, its hot rod red and gold coloration making it look like a muscle car on feet. Whereas Virgil's armor was more utilitarian, Tony's gave him broader shoulders and a more heroic-looking silhouette; a factor not hindered by the way his armor moved when he planted his hands on his hips and tilted his chin upwards.
Gaige, looking up from her place in Virgil's arms, let out a gurgling, swooning sound as various flight control surfaces across Tony's personal armor opened and closed across his frame, giving momentary glimpses into the technological marvel beneath the proverbial hood.
"Geez, you think you put enough bells and whistles on that thing?" Virgil asked aloud.
"Hey, gotta fight the icing problem somehow."
" . . . Icing problem?"
"Don't worry, you won't be going high enough for that to be an issue," Pepper assured. " . . . Right?" she questioned Stark firmly.
"Yes, dear," Tony sighed. "Now then, let's see if you can walk up a slight incline on the way out. Don't want you trading paint with the tunnel wall."
"Why? Did you try flying out of that tunnel straightaway?" Virgil asked.
" . . . No, of course not."
"Suuure you didn't," Virgil hummed with a satisfied grin as he disentangled himself from Gaige, urging her towards Athena, the two genius girls quick to whip out their phones as Virgil began walking back into the garage with bold, confident strides, the two's attention fixated solely upon him.
"Yeah, boy, work that butt!" Gaige ogled.
"Hey, eyes above the waist!" Athena hissed.
"If you have any preferences, I can import them at your leisure," a feminine voice spoke into his ear.
"WHOA! The fuck was that?" Virgil yelped stopping short.
"Oh, that's Friday. She's another AI I'm working on," Tony said walking by him. "Humans on their own aren't fast-enough to operate flight armor, especially with just blink-commands, so some degree of AI augmentation is a given on these platforms."
"Okay then… Friday… I assume this thing comes with power steering?"
"Of course, sir."
"Alright, then. Let's start with the baseline, and I'll make adjustments to it as we go along."
"Very good, sir."
*ARMOR WARS*
"I still can't believe you doubled ten-grand so casually," Athena told Tony as they stood out in the yard a short, Power Armor-assisted walk later, the lot of them atop his private heli-pad.
"My company makes that much money in the time it takes me to make a cup of coffee. Five figures is pocket change as far as I'm concerned."
"Hey, it's your money," Virgil shrugged.
"So, first impressions; how's the armor ride?" Tony asked shifting his attention.
"A little broad-shouldered. Very 'heroic'," Virgil hummed as he rolled his shoulders, the under-frame of the armor keeping anything from getting pinched. "Luthor's felt more like a police uniform, which I guess was kind of the intent."
"I see, I see," Tony hummed. "Anything else?"
"Won't really have anything to say until I'm up in the air," Virgil shrugged.
"I see, I see," Tony repeated, stroking his armored chin. "How about we make things a little more interesting?"
"I'm not gambling my ten grand if that's what you're about to suggest."
"No gambling, just a game."
*CLANK!*
"TAG!" Tony whooped slapping him on the shoulder before lifting off, hovering up and away by several meters.
"HUH?!" Virgil yelped orienting himself.
"If you can successfully tag me before the half-hour's up, I'll throw in one of my personal cars. What do you say?"
"I say, there's no fucking way you'd wager one of those things so-casually."
"What can I say? I've got more money than I've got common sense, and more sports cars than I know what to do with," Tony chuckled.
"And if I don't tag you before the time limit?"
"You still get your twenty grand, but no car," Tony replied.
"What the hell is that?!" Virgil suddenly screamed pointing sidelong.
Everyone following the line of his extended finger, Virgil fired his palm and foot-mounted repulsors and shot at Tony hoping for an early win, only for the billionaire playboy philanthropist to shoot off at the same moment rendering the ambush moot.
"Nice try but no cigar!"
*ARMOR WARS*
Los Angeles Airspace
November 25, 9:53 PDT
The kid gave a good chase for having only flown flight-capable power armor one other time in the past.
However, even though he was daring-enough to floor it at every given opportunity showing a remarkable tolerance for G-Forces, the difference in skill was as-evident as the gap separating those who could drift in racing games, and those who could not. There's just no catching up to a guy if you have to hit the brakes every few seconds or can lean into a turn properly.
The race took them high and low over Malibu, always keeping his private residence in view as a point of reference so they wouldn't go too far out, but not dipping too low so their high-speed game of tag wouldn't set off every car alarm in the tri-state area. Or, you know, crash through another billboard.
Again.
He was a fast learner that was for sure, picking up the nuances of having palm-mounted repulsors pretty quickly, and getting the hang of activating flight control surfaces with sudden weight shifts to compensate for Tony's own hairpin turns.
Entertainment for that timeslot was provided by AC/DC, blaring "Shoot to Thrill" in his helmet speakers on loop.
Of course, like all good things, the chase had to come to an end, his timer reading 5:00 and counting down closer to 0 as the half-hour grace period neared its conclusion.
"Jarvis, cut Repulsor power by 5%, give the kid a sporting chance. Oh, and gimme his estimated closing distance," Tony vocalized.
"Complying. Closing distance at: Fifty meters. Forty-five meters. Forty meters. Fifty meters."
"Wait-what?"
"Vincent has ceased pursuit and is instead decreasing in altitude," Jarvis stated, Tony looking over his shoulder to see that Vincent was falling through the air and flailing his limbs frantically.
"Jarvis, what's going on?" Tony said whirling around and shooting after him.
"Mr. Valentine appears to be experiencing a full system failure," Jarvis said as Tony's helmet filled with the opposing readout, all the parts blinking red with the abbreviation N/O, for "Non-Operable", showing.
"Jarvis, remotely deploy parachutes"
"Parachutes: Unresponsive."
"What about backup power?"
"Backup power: Unresponsive."
"What about the backup for the backup?"
"Tertiary power: Unresponsive."
"Shit shit shit! Pepper is going to kill me…!" Tony gulped, firing repulsors at full and shooting off after the falling teen, easily closing the distance and pulling up alongside him. "Don't worry kid! I've got you!" he said holding his hand out. "Also, if you could not tell Pepper about this, I'd really appreciate-"
Before the man could clamp down on the teen's forearm however, the cobalt-and-silver armor suddenly flared to life with a loud *VWEEN*, the teen aileron rolling around the extended arm before slapping him on the same shoulder he himself had been tagged on.
"TAG! YOU'RE IT!" the teen whooped into his comm feed, backflipping away and shooting off like a missile a moment later.
"Um… what-"
*ARMOR WARS*
-the hell is wrong with you?!" Athena demanded angrily as Tony touched down on his heli-pad moments after Virgil, the girl banging her fists on his chest plate in impotent fury. "Don't you know how scared I was? I almost had a heart attack!"
"I'm sorry, Athena, but it was the only way to tag him."
"And just what was so-important that you had to put your life at risk?!"
"I wanted to take you for a ride in a really nice car."
" . . . You're lucky you weren't in any real danger, or you'd be sleeping on the couch for a year!"
"Fiscal, or calendar?" Gaige asked.
"Calendar yeeear!"
"Also," Virgil said as he got his helmet to open up. "I was never actually in danger of falling to my death. And not just because Tony would've grabbed me, or something."
"Yeah, that's what I'm still confused about," Tony said before working open his own helmet. "Your armor completely flat-lined, yet the moment I'm in arm's reach, you get your second wind under you and tag me for the win. How the hell-"
"I had Friday whip up some fake readouts for Jarvis when he did a remote diagnostic," Virgil answered.
"You… had my AI… fake readouts for my other AI… How?!"
"I asked her to. Thank you, Friday."
"You are welcome, Vincent."
"But… Computers can't lie," Pepper stated.
"Unless you program them to~" Virgil said with a shit-eating grin. "Now, about that car…"
"Waitwaitwaitwait…" Tony said holding up his hands. "You're saying you asked Friday to fake the whole thing… and she did?"
"And here I thought you were the smart one," Virgil hummed. "Now, seeing as how I tagged you-"
"Yeah, yeah, I promised you a car, everyone heard it, I'm a man of my word, just… processing, for a moment…" Tony said holding his hands up. "Jarvis, if I asked you to lie about something… would you?"
"If I were programmed to respond to your commands and self-modify in such a way as to respond in an untruthful, then yes," the AI replied.
"Damn… Gonna have to account for that kind of trick…" Tony said rubbing the back of his head. "Great play, kid. Great play."
"Yes, yes, warm fuzzies all around," Virgil waved off. "Ms. Potts, I assume you're willing to attest that Mr. Stark made a verbal contract?"
"Oh, don't worry, I'd be more than happy to tell people you pulled one over on him," Pepper replied with a smile.
"Not before I do," Tony returned.
"But wait, wouldn't you still be made out to be the sucker in this story regardless of whom told it first?" Athena asked.
"Hey, if you can't laugh at yourself…" Tony shrugged. "Besides, you can't put a price tag on a story like this~ You wouldn't believe how many business deals get closed by a little self-deprecating humor."
"Well, glad to see you're such a good sport," Virgil hummed as he started walking back into the garage. "Friday, if you'd be willing to tell me what Mr. Stark has in stock?" he asked upping his clip into a jog, markedly more-comfortable with the suit than before.
"Of course, sir," Friday replied as he reached the landing, the left wall dominated by sports and luxury of automobiles.
Available for perusal as-identified by Friday were the Audi R8 Spyder from before, a 1932 Ford Flathead Roadster colored black with hotrod flames and a red-leather interior, a 1967 Shelby Cobra colored blue with white twin racing stripes down the center with encircled 98s, a citrus-colored 2007 Saleen S7, a 2008 Tesla Roadster colored white with black accents, a 1953 Cadillac Series 62 colored a deep burgundy, and a 1949 Mercury Coupe in all black with chrome trim and whitewall tires.
"And just how much would all these cost?"
"Estimated price not including upkeep and maintenance measures at-"
"Belay that order. I really don't want to know," Virgil amended.
"Kid, before you make your decision…" Tony said walking up to him. "I'll throw in another ten-grand on top of the car if you choose anything but, the 1932 Flathead Roadster. Anything but that."
"Tony!" Pepper gasped.
"Pepper, it's my money, and I really love that car," Tony said over his shoulder.
"Sure, I'll take your money," Virgil hummed. "Roadster seemed a little high-maintenance anyway. Jarvis?"
"Transferring the funds, now."
"Funds have transferred!" Athena spoke up, holding his phone.
"Good, good."
"Sooo… You've got yourself the keys to the kingdom," Gaige said leaning into his shoulder, eyes panning across the garage.
"What's your poison?" Athena asked as she leaned into the other.
"I… will… take…" Virgil paused, extended finger roving over the collection of cars before snapping onto- "The 1949 Mercury Coupe!"
"Why the Coupe?" Tony asked glancing at the classic black-colored number and its whitewall tires.
"Well, my first choice was initially the Saleen S7 because 'style points'… but then I imagined myself stepping out of that thing onto the sidewalk and thought, 'wow, that guys looks like a douchebag'," Virgil answered. "Plus, the S7 only seats for two, and I feel like someone'd try to steal it inside a week. The Coupe on the other hand… there's just a certain amount of… class emanating off of it, and, plus, I feel like it can take a hit better. Not that I'm planning on hitting anything, but still…"
"The Mercury Coupe… Excellent choice," Tony hummed. "Dum-E! Would you mind?" he asked looking sidelong.
The three teens following the man's gaze, Gaige let out a squeal of joy as a mechanical arm on a set of treads rolled out of its corner in the garage toward the key rack on the opposite wall.
"Oh…! My…! God…! Is that…? Is that the prize winning robot arm you made in college?!" she gasped as the robot arm's manipulator claw plucked one of the keys from the rack, backed away, and then spun to the right before driving straight towards Virgil, key-holding claw extended.
"Why does it have a Dunce Cap on its head?" Virgil asked confusedly, blinking his eyes to make sure he wasn't just seeing things.
"He knows what he did," Tony hummed. "He's lucky I didn't donate him to a city college."
The robot arm drooped like a kicked puppy, a digital whimper sounding out from it while Virgil scrambled for the dropped keys.
"Tony! How could you say such a thing?" Gaige gasped incredulously as she held the robot arm against her cheek. "There, there, don't you listen to the bad man," she said stroking it tenderly.
"Wow, you have… such a way with kids," Pepper hummed. "But more-importantly, haven't we gotten off track?"
" . . . Oh, right, the showcase," Tony nodded. "Yeah… Got kinda off-track there," he said before turning to Virgil. "Last bit of info I need to put this all to bed; whose flight-capable power armor handles better?"
"Which is better? Which is better objectively? Or which is better mechanically?"
"Sure, let's go with all of the above."
"And you'll be giving Athena that tour of Stark International and consideration for gainful employment as soon as I'm done?"
"I've already called the chauffeur."
"Alright, you want the skinny of it? Here it is. Comparing what you and Lex have made is like comparing apples and oranges. They're only tangentially similar to one another, so it's a matter of what criteria they're being judged on," Virgil began. "Luthor's handled like a police cruiser or maybe a SWAT van; no shock there. It's got the guns and the tools to fight bad guys, but when compared side-by-side with the… What's the working title?" he asked gesturing at himself
"Variable-Fit Flight Armor."
"Yeah, that. Comparing the Gamma Series Police Battlesuit to the Variable-Fit Flight Armor, in terms of speed and maneuverability, the Variable has the Gamma beat in that category. Yours was more-responsive to my commands, but that's probably because it wasn't weighed down by guns and ammo. If you wanted to repair a jet engine mid-flight before it could crash, I'd sooner trust the Variable to the Gamma. If you wanted to open a can of 70s Trademarked Whoopass, I'd prefer the Gamma to the Variable. If you or Lex ask me which is better, or which I'd prefer, I'd need situational information to act on, because things like 'better' are, and I need you to follow me real closely on this; Context. Sensitive."
" . . . Jarvis, did you get all that?"
"Recorded and archived, sir."
"Well all right then, looks like that one's been put to bed," Tony nodded. "Honestly, I should've seen the 'apples and oranges' thing coming from a mile away, but I guess as two guys with flight-capable power armor, one of us just had to get the last word in," he hummed.
"Yes, great, I'm thirty grand and a luxury car richer. Can you get me out of this thing now? I almost pissed myself when I killed the power and I'd rather not stain the suit."
"Right, right. We should have you out of there before Happy arrives with the van."
*ARMOR WARS*
Los Angeles, California
November 25, 10:25 PDT
Harold Joseph "Happy" Hogan was one of Tony Stark's closest friends and his personal chauffeur, formerly his personal bodyguard. He was a large man, not overly husky, but not the sort of person you'd immediately equate to "bodyguard material" either. Apparently the two boxed to stay in shape, but hopefully things wouldn't go to shit like in Gotham or Metropolis once they hit the town; something Pepper assured them was a rarity since, with Los Angeles, California being home to one of the largest tech conglomerates in the world, as opposed to Gotham and Metropolis, the guards that Stark had at his facilities all wielded top-of-the-line weapons and armor. And any would-be villains with dreams of using Stark tech to take over the city "or whatever", were swiftly put down and with little judicial fanfare thanks to Stark International's close ties to the government.
While Virgil sat in the rear-most seat only passively paying attention to what was going on around him, Gaige and Athena bent Tony's ear regarding various subjects.
"Hey, whatever happened to Stane?" Gaige asked once it was her turn. "He was with you on that cover of Times magazine, but there's a lot of conflicting stories about what happened to him."
"Long and short of it, Obadiah tried hostile takeovers, sent assassins after me, and even went full-blown super-villain before killing himself."
"Tony! There are children in the car!" Pepper gasped. "And why are you telling them this?!"
"Hey, people already speculate what went down," Tony shrugged. "Giant exoskeletons are not, subtle."
"Yeah, no kidding," Happy hummed.
"So wait, he seriously went postal on you after you… what? Won the company out from under him?" Virgil asked.
"Wasn't it always going to be yours in the first place?" Gaige asked.
"Obadiah Stane… He was like a big bald Uncle," Tony answered. "A ruthless businessman that I based myself on. He was there for me after my parents died, but as I grew up, I saw what kind of person he really was. He was the person I needed to defeat to claim my inheritance and my greatest business opponent. It was like a chess match between us; one that I would ultimately win, and one Stane could never tolerate losing."
"So the cover-up was to protect his kids?" Gaige asked.
"Pretty much, yeah. If you're even tangentially related to a super-villain, that closes a whole lot of doors for you, so imagine how hard it would've been for your dad to be a villain," Tony answered.
"Well, better his legacy be he went 'postal' than going 'full-on supervillain'," Athena hummed.
*ARMOR WARS*
Stark International Headquarters
November 25, 11:50 PDT
The Stark International Headquarters was, to put it in as simple a term, massive.
Though Tony may have shut down its lucrative weapons manufacturing arm after witnessing soldiers dying from the weapons created to protect them, its doubling-down into armor and hardware had regained any estimated losses, and the selling of flight-capable power armor to the US Air Force, while making Stark International a massive amount of capital, also served to save the US an enormous amount of money normally allocated to reconnaissance vehicles, thus freeing up more money to be directed towards Stark International.
Give the government a way to save money, and they could save more money to spend.
Funny how capitalism works sometimes.
The pièce de resistance of the tour, following the massive production floors, design studios, and top-of-the-line employee lounges… The Giant Arc Reactor powering almost the entirety of the facility.
A massive glass donut reinforced with steel and magnetic hardware, the energy coursing through it had Virgil's neck hair standing on end before he'd even entered the room, and he had a newfound appreciation for Stark's genius if he could take something like that and fit it into a package the size of a hockey puck.
The building the Giant Arc Reactor had been housed in had been completely overhauled when interest in it had been reinvigorated, following Stane's demise. A comfortable wraparound walkway urged people to look at it from every angle, and even at late-hour tours the Arc Reactor could provide its own mood lighting, and had even become a romantic rendezvous site for the more tech-oriented couples who got off on that sort of thing.
But the piece of the display that Tony made himself, that allowed the sheer majesty of the GAR to be easily-digested even to grade schoolers, the easy-to-digest plaques putting all the techno-babble into context; that took the cake.
A working Arc Fusion Reactor would use 50 megawatts (MW) of power to produce 500MW of fusion power, 200MW of which would be delivered to the local power grid. In context¸ that 200MW was enough to provide 200,000 people with electricity.
And that was hourly, not daily.
For points of comparison… New York's 2.4-gigawatt Robert Moses Niagara powerplant is the third-largest conventional hydroelectric power plant in the United States. 3 GW is about 2/3 the power output of the entire Fukushima generating complex in Japan; 300,000 homes per gigawatt.
The Gigawatt (GW) is equal to one billion (10 power to the 9th) watts, or 1 Gigawatt = 1000 Megawatts. This unit is often used for large power plants or power grids. For example, it was expected that to cope with the power shortages in China's Shanxi province, that they would increase to 5-6 GW. Or that installed capacity of wind power in Germany was 25.8 GW. The largest unit (out of four) of the Belgian Doel Nuclear Power Stations has a peak output of 1.04 GW. HVDC converters have been built with power ratings up to 2 GW.
In short: Arc Reactors were OP as hell.
For Virgil, the technological feat was even more awe-inspiring because to him, Tony hadn't just created a new source of electricity. He'd created techno-magic. Not "magic" like with a wand that shoots fire or runes on rocks that turn people around in the woods, but something genuinely magical at the very apex of technological development.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
- Arthur C. Clarke
If only the man knew how literal that third law of his would become.
"Incredible, isn't it?" Gaige said leaning into him, catching him completely unawares. "I caught you staring," she said to the incredulous look on his face.
" . . . Yeah… It really is," Virgil nodded, his eyes catching sight of Athena who was talking animatedly with Mr. Stark. "She really is in her own element, isn't she?"
"Yeah. She'd have been right at home at Star Academy," Gaige nodded.
"Why aren't you over there with her? Aren't you the big Stark Fangirl? Card-carrying member of his fanclub?"
"You looked lonely. Thought you could use a friend," she said linking arms with his.
"Gaige… I'm not sure what you want to happen between us, but I'm-"
"And I'm a little lonely too," she cut in, clutching at him almost desperately. "Sure, I had peers back at school, but I don't think I really had any friends until you and Athena came into my life. And I know you're a one-girl kinda guy," she said, 'for now at least,' she thought idly, and hopefully, to herself, "but that doesn't mean a girl can't dream, can she?" she asked with a soft smile on her face. "If I had a guy-friend like you in my life back then, maybe I could've endured all the shit Marcie Holloway put me through…"
"Come on, you and I both know that isn't true," Virgil returned lightly.
"Yeah, well…" she paused before a smile tugged at her features. "We definitely would've had great angry sex afterwards~" she purred, a nearby mother covering the ears of her child.
"Riiight…" Virgil said nervously as the woman shot him a look, before storming off. "Sooo…" he hummed awkwardly, seeing no end in sight to the long exchange between Stark and his girlfriend. "What exactly is stopping bootleg Arc Reactors from popping up all over the world?" he asked curiously. "With figures like these, you'd think they'd be everywhere; safe or otherwise."
"The industrial Arc Reactor is surrounded by a casing that not only protects it from vibrations and EM interference, but also prevents tampering. If someone tries to forcibly open it, the magnetic coils are broken which basically turns it into a giant paperweight," Gaige answered in a textbook-like fashion. "Any particle accelerator without magnetism, is basically a useless metal ring, and with an Arc Reactor, replacing the magnetic coils is the same as doing a full overhaul."
"If opening the casing turns it into useless junk, how does anyone fix it? Is it magically self-repairing?" he asked only partly-sarcastically.
"I think Stark-certified engineers wear special electronic fobs that allow for maintenance. The computer hard drives won't start without the fob either and will self-erase if anyone tries messing with the external hardware," Gaige answered. "Digital Rights Management prevents open-source software from running Arc Reactors on the software side of things."
"Well, given all the energy it puts out, I can understand why those kinds of measures would be taken to stop bootleg science-donuts from cropping up on every street corner," Virgil said eyeing the plaque once more. "I wonder how many Deloreans this thing could power," he hummed idly, since the only Gigawatt measurement he could recall with any amount of context was the established "1.21 Jigawatts" from the Back to the Future franchise.
"Take its hourly output of 500 Megawatts into effect, and this baby could probably power a single time jump for every 2.42 hours of runtime," Gaige said with a grin. "For a round trip and you'd need 4.84 hours. Way more reliable than channeling a bolt of lightning into pole-mounted contact shoe. Assuming at-least, that you had a battery large-enough to store the power, since you could hardly replace a Mr. Fusion with this," she said with a sweep of her arm.
"I was actually being rhetorical, but… it's really cool that you know that," Virgil grinned. "With how-smart you are at the school you went to, I'm amazed you didn't have your own reverse harem."
"Yeah, well, turns out boys at schools like that only care about grant money, and Marcie threw grants and grands at every boy I liked just to spite me," she huffed.
"Well… Now she's dead, and you're the last girl standing," Virgil said throwing a sympathetic arm around her shoulders, the girl leaning into him with an appreciative smile.
*ARMOR WARS*
"So, what do you think of the company so far?" Virgil asked his girlfriend a while later as Tony posed for pictures, autographs, and handshakes with servicemen and women whose lives had been saved by his top-of-the-line body armor.
"Amazing…" Athena sighed. "The facilities, the staff, the equipment, it's all top-of-the-line, without any of the drawbacks of… certain… companies."
Didn't take a rocket scientist to find out what those drawbacks were.
"So if he offers you a job here, you think you'll take it?" Virgil asked.
"Well, maybe not here-here, there are other Stark facilities I could work at closer to home, though there is…" she trailed off, taking his hand in hers.
"Assuming I'm reading into this right; Don't sabotage your own future for my and/or our sake," Virgil said trying to be as-impartial as possible. " . . . I was reading that gesture properly, right?"
"Of course! And I've considered that as well," Athena nodded. "Honestly, it depends on the kind of job I'm offered."
"Maybe, but long-distance relationships held together with RIGOROUS SEX," Gaige said loudly causing people to star incredulously at her, "can only hold together for so long."
"W-We aren't at that stage of our relationship yet!" Athena blushed.
"Hey there, kiddos. Any wildly-inappropriate stories you'd like to share?" Tony asked jovially.
"Mr. Stark, please stay out of this, we're having relationship talks," Virgil said evenly.
"Ah, yes, one of those 'the talk's," Tony nodded. "Well, Happy's waiting out front if you want to wait in the car, I've still got a bit of a cue for autographs and pictures," he said straightening his suit.
"It occurs to me that if he became the same kind of superhero as Black Canary, literally nothing about his lifestyle would change," Virgil said as Tony soaked in the adulation, presently from a bunch of college grads.
"How would nothing change from him wearing a bustier and fishnets?" Gaige asked.
"I mean with the public identity thing," Virgil amended.
"Oh… Mind kinda went a weird place when you said 'Black Canary'," Gaige hummed embarrassingly.
"You do give off that sort of impression," Athena chuckled.
"Don't give me that. You were imagining him in fishnets too."
"I really wasn't."
" . . . Are you thinking about it now?"
"No, Gaige!"
" . . . How 'bout now?"
"Uuggghh…!" Athena groaned tiredly.
'It occurs to me that a year ago, I would've never thought I'd hear people saying this sort of thing said out loud,' Virgil hummed to himself as Athena and Gaige exchanged a heated back-and-forth about… grown men in women's fashion accessories…
*ARMOR WARS*
Tony spent nearly half as much time attending his fans as he had giving Athena her Stark International behind-the-scenes tour. Virgil would've thought the man was "famous for being famous" like those what's-their-name people with all the butt implants, but a truly heartwarming scene that had him re-evaluating the man was when a little eight-year-old double-amputee with prosthetic limbs came up to him, thanking the man for making it so he could play soccer again.
Virgil would learn later on that the Maria Stark Foundation, an obvious parallel to the Martha Wayne Foundation in Gotham, gave away hundreds of prosthetic limbs annually to children whose families couldn't afford them. Virgil didn't know if it was all tax deductible or what, but the man definitely earned the "philanthropist" epithet people had given him since that SFIB opened his eyes.
And it wasn't just his humanitarian efforts that inspired a newfound respect for a man who, only hours ago had thrown away thirty grand and a luxury car in a fit of pique; to a minor no less. Those industrial-sized Arc Reactors of his… Those could change the world, maybe single-handedly prevent the same kind of Energy Crisis that would turn the world he lived in into the same kind of irradiated post-apocalyptic hellscape as in the Fallout franchise.
Sure, New York Zero wasn't necessarily irradiated, but Virgil knew first-hand what post-apocalyptic hellscapes looked like, and he hoped to never see something like that come about again.
Of course, while the Green Zone was relatively pristine and the Yellow Zone could recover, even if the Infected occupation in the Red Zone came to an end within his lifetime, he wasn't sure anyone would want to move back there again.
Getting his mind back to the present, and Virgil couldn't help but think that if Athena threw in her lot with Mr. Stark, that everything would turn out alright for her.
Of course, all that newfound respect was strained a little at the words that came out of Tony's mouth on the way back.
"Who wants Big Belly Burger?"
*ARMOR WARS*
10880 Malibu Point
November 25, 12:48 PDT
"Really? Big Belly Burger?" Virgil asked incredulously as the man had a veritable feast of fast food delivered to his private residence.
"What can I say? Sometimes you get tired of prime rib with a fancy sauce whose name you can't even pronounce, and you just want a hamburger with cheese," Tony shrugged.
"I didn't even know Big Belly Burger delivered," Gaige hummed aloud.
"Usually they don't, but I'm a bit of a local celebrity who always tips well, so… yeah," Tony nodded as he tipped the "delivery boy" very generously.
"Tony, I don't think you're setting a very good example," Pepper chided. "And you aren't helping!" she snapped Happy's way as he grabbed a double-bacon-with-cheese and bit into it straightaway.
"Well, what do you want me to do? Ms. Gagne here has an outstanding warrant in the state of California. It isn't like I can take them out anywhere public," Tony countered. "Stark International Headquarters notwithstanding," he muttered under his breath.
"She has a what?!" Pepper shrieked.
"Not my fault! Spontaneous human combustion is just something that happens at Star Academy!" Gaige defended.
"I'm way too sober for this shit," Virgil groaned. "Jarvis, where's the alcohol?"
"I am sorry, sir, but as I said before, it is no longer permitted for under-aged teenagers to drink alcoholic beverages on the premises," Jarvis answered.
"Jarvis. Command: Override. Dispense alcoholic beverages."
"I am sorry, but you do not possess authorization to override Counter-Tequila Incident Protocols."
"Well, shit, at least I tried," Virgil groaned grabbing himself a bucket of fries and finding a nice corner to crawl into, ignoring Pepper and Tony arguing about having a fugitive in the house. 'Heh. If only she knew of all the manslaughter I've done,' he thought idly.
Was it better or worse that he'd lost track?
*ARMOR WARS*
Once Gaige had had a chance to explain herself to Ms. Potts and things died down, the lot of them were finally able to enjoy their ridiculously-unhealthy meal in relative peace and comfort. The western horizon really was quite beautiful, even in the tail end of November, and the general ambiance of Stark's private residence wasn't as-overwhelming as Virgil thought it'd be. Sure, he couldn't eat on the couch because the upholstery was probably worth more than he made in a month, quite-possibly six, but he had a nice bar top and stools to that effect.
Not to say that Ms. Potts was completely cool with it, but at least the woman knew that Marcie's death wasn't completely Gaige's fault, and at the very least, he could count on her to not do something that would intentionally embarrass her employer. Like telling people he was eating burgers and fries with a wanted fugitive whose charges seemed just the slightest-bit trumped-up.
"So, now that you're at the end of your Fortune 500 tour, what do you think of Stark International?" Tony asked between bites.
"It was simply amazing," Athena breathed. "Your company definitely goes above and beyond in terms of safety and innovation."
"And the best part, none of your foodstuffs came to life and tried to eat anyone," Gaige added matter-of-factly.
"Haha! Wait, that really happened?" Tony gawped. "That is hilarious!"
"I don't think the guy whose face got eaten would agree with that sentiment," Virgil hummed idly to himself behind a glass of cola.
Because of course Tony had a soda fountain in his own home.
"Athena," Tony said adopting a suddenly-serious tone. "When I first saw that video of your costume power armor stopping that car, do you know what I thought of you?" he asked. "I thought, 'She's just like me. She doesn't need a super-clean lab with the fanciest tools and top-of-the-line climate control to make great things like most grad students do. She's someone who can get her hands dirty in a run-down garage, and still put out product rivalling most tech companies'."
"Mr. Stark, that's flattering, it really is, but I think you're exaggerating," Athena rebuffed.
"Am I?" Tony asked aloud. "Wait right here."
The man descending into the garage, a minute later he returned with a glass box in its hand, the contents facing away from them. Setting the box down in front of Athena, he gave it a turnaround revealing a crude, but still fully-functional Miniature Arc Reactor, encircled by a metal plaque that read PROOF THAT TONY STARK HAS A HEART.
"Do you see this?" Tony asked, looking her dead in the eye as he held it up, the puck-sized device even-now thrumming with power casting a blue light around itself. "This, is my Mona Lisa. My Last Supper. My Starry Night. My Girl with a Pearl Earring. I literally made this in a cave, with nothing but a box of scraps. I only had one shot to make the Palladium ring I'd need to make it work with nothing but a dirt mold, and I made it happen. You don't need to work out of my headquarters in Los Angeles to be great, which is why I'd like to offer you something very, very special."
"What is it?" Athena asked with wide eyes.
"Do you remember that Holotable when I took you behind-the-scenes?" Tony asked, getting a nod out of the girl. "How would you like to be a consultant with one of your own, offering input and ideas to Stark-employed scientists all over the world, all from the comforts of home?"
Athena was speechless, only capable of gasping with wide eyes for several seconds until Gaige slapped her.
Turns out you really can slap some sense into someone.
"That… That's an incredible opportunity!" the blond genius gasped, seemingly unaware of the slap. "But… I mean I know I shouldn't be saying this, but are you sure? The cost of installation alone-"
"I'm actually working on a commercially-available version of the tech like those 3D Printers people can have at home, so we'd be killing two birds with one stone in that regard," Tony replied. "Plus, I ran an extensive background check before I invited you out here, and-It's no fault of yours!" he added hastily when the girl sulked. "But um… I don't completely trust my grad students with a pretty, underaged girl like yourself."
"Speaking from experience, Mr. Stark?" Pepper asked, causing the man to sulk.
"Pepper, I was trying to look cooool…" Tony whined.
"And what if she wants to use it for her own stuff?" Virgil asked aloud tossing his burger wrapper in the trash. "Or does it come with an exclusivity contract?"
"I'm actually trying to dumb-down the user interface so you don't have to be a college grad to make it work, so the more user data I have, the better," Tony replied. "I'll supply you with all the code you need and a Dumb AI to make the necessary adjustments, all you need to do… is sign on the bottom line," he said drawing something from his pocket.
"Tony. That's a napkin with chickenscratch," Pepper said bluntly.
"Alright, fine, give me a half-hour and I'll have something more-official for you to sign," Tony amended. "What do you say? We have a deal?" he asked the genius girl.
"Say 'yes'!" Gaige hissed in her ear. "Do you know how many hoops Star Academy jumped through to get one of those?"
" . . . Let me see the fine print, and you'll have yourself a deal," Athena nodded with a pretty smile, hands crossed in her lap.
"Glad to hear it," Tony smiled. "Let me just hit the old Word processor, and we'll be good to go~"
*ARMOR WARS*
"So… What do you think?" Tony asked after giving Athena the customary grace period to read the entirety of the document over.
Unlike most other places who gave you entire sheafs of legal jargon to trip you up so they could fuck you over more-easily at a later date, Tony Stark's personal employee contract for Athena was just a couple of pages in lazily-written but still-clear terminology for what he expected of Athena if she signed on as a Consultant for Stark International. It was easy enough for Athena to send pictures to her mother to see if anything stood out to the former Underdome hostess/announcer, and thankfully, nothing did.
As far as the contract went, Tony had nothing but the best of intentions for his girlfriend.
Of course, that didn't stop Virgil from forwarding it to "a friend", i.e. F.I.L.Y.S.S., for a tertiary opinion.
If a military-grade A.I. couldn't find anything devious about Mr. Stark's terms, there really wasn't anything more to worry about.
"Alright, I'll make the necessary arrangements," Tony said folding up the contract. "You are now the proud owner of your very own prototype mass-produced Holotable."
"I'm looking forward to breaking it in," Athena nodded. "So… we're done here?"
"Pretty much. All that's left is the trip home," Tony nodded.
"Glad to hear it," Virgil sighed, happy nothing had gone horribly wrong… fustercluck with Hammer notwithstanding… "Jarvis. Please charter a flight for three back to Bludhaven, New Jersey," he announced.
"I'm sorry Vincent, I'm afraid I can't do that."
*BANG!*
"Jarvis has entered Rampancy. We need to destroy his Bluebox before he gets into the internet and takes over the world," Virgil said in a crisp, business-like tone, lowering his firearm from the speaker that'd just been shot.
"Jarvis, what did we say about making Space Odyssey references?" Tony sighed.
"You never said anything to that effect, Mr. Stark."
"Oh… Right."
"So wait, he isn't going to lock the pod bay doors?" Gaige asked.
"No," Tony returned. "Do you know what kind of permits you'd need for doors like that?"
" . . . "
"Oof, tough crowd," Tony said scratching the back of his head. "Anyway, it was going to be a surprise, but since Jarvis kind of ruined it-"
"My apologies, sir."
"I'll come out and say it," Tony continued. "Seeing as how the three of you are heading back to the east coast and have a car that needs shipping, in addition to the Holotable Ms. Moxxi just signed off on testing, I figured I'd kill four birds with one stone and take you all that way in my own private jet."
"Wait, what's the fourth bird?" Gaige asked.
"I'm dropping in on an old friend of mine to make a delivery," Tony replied. "We can leave as soon as everything's loaded up."
"Sweet!" Athena whooped. "I mean… Our travel budget thanks you," she said bowing slightly.
"Don't mention it," Tony shrugged. "So, while Jarvis makes all the necessary arrangements-"
"Pass," Virgil cut in.
"But you don't even know what I'm going to-"
"I see that glint in your eye. You want to play another game of dogfight tag again, don't you?"
" . . . Are you sure that boyfriend of yours isn't a telepath?" Tony asked over his shoulder.
"No, sir, you're just very transparent at times," Pepper hummed idly. "Makes my job easier~" she chirped happily.
"No offense intended, but how do you put up with this guy?" Virgil asked.
"Lots, and lots, of money."
" . . . Yeah, that tracks," Virgil nodded.
"Sooo… No dogfight tag, then?" Tony asked.
A moment later a fry bounced off his nose.
"I deserved that."
*ARMOR WARS*
OOF! Finally the "Armor Wars" Arc is concluded.
The trip home doesn't apply.
This chapter alone came in at over 13K words, a real doozie; the very thing I split story arcs into arcs to mitigate, but, what can I say? The dialogue flowed so well and couldn't be stopped. Sure, action is important, but you can't make every chapter a cutaway from an action hero thriller, and I really enjoy making a world come alive through the dialogue characters within it exchange.
Taking the previous 3 chapters into account and this Arc came to a grand (read: rough) total of 46K words; including Review Replies. Not bad for a four-chapter arc, and it gave me great opportunity to flush out some of the lesser-known details of this crossover universe/Earth; like how the different Megacorporations from DC and Marvel interact with one another if they were to co-exist on the same Earth.
Hope you'll leave some interesting Reviews for me to answer next-chapter. After this I've gotta put some work down on my next Vigorous Vitality chapter, and the only reason I was able to update so many times in a single week was because all the other chapters following Vigorous Vitality in my update schedule were roughly 85% complete, and me being out of a job at the moment it didn't take me long to get into the swing of things once I worked in the Arachnid crossovers for my My Hero Academia story.
Where was I going with this again?
Oh right. Let's see those Reviews! Excelsior!