GreedEman: Enjoyed the chapter, but there is one thing i take issue with:
There's no way Wade would just leave someone/something like Andy in a storage unit. Wouldn't suprise me if he tried to make him a new sidekick.
Re: Glad someone recognized him~ And how do you know he was being stored? What if he was just there to drop off some of his own paraphernalia?
I can certainly imagine Wade carrying him around in a baby carrier~
Jamius: …how does it 'miss' the ground, more than once does it just start floating. I am scared.
Re: Forty-two. *Wink*
Okaze: The idea of Virgil actually going back to NYZ has me really hyped. Mercer is VERY powerful, but I'm also curious to see how powerful Virgil is now at max. We haven't seen him pulling out all his tricks all at once so far and I'm really curious how that'll go. With the Suit, the magic, the training, the weapons, an Iron Man suit, and more, he's got a whole lot of options to use.
Kinda curious if the Nanosuit can cannibalize or adapt to the Iron Man suit in some way, or use the Iron Man suit to make it stronger.
Re: Virgil was always going to go back to the Red Zone someday. Getting Dana out of there was his biggest motivation to keep getting stronger, and going along with Foxhound/Crynet as they led him around by the nose.
Thing is, if I had him go back before he was ready, him actually surviving the gauntlet wouldn't be believable. Even in a comic book universe where you suspend all disbelief. If he went right now, the over/under of him surviving the mission, let alone succeeding, would be less than 40/60.
As for the Protosuit, at most on that front, it only has a Spore Warfare suite, and it can't do to Virgil what it did to Alcatraz because its assimilation feature isn't that-refined in what's basically a Pre-Beta.
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
Moxxxi's Red Light
January, 2, 04:29 EST
"Ms. Potts…" Virgil groaned irritably into his phone as he rubbed the crust from his eyes. "Do you have any idea… any idea at all… what ungodly hour it is…?"
"Yes, I know that, Mr. Valentine, but I wouldn't have called if it weren't important."
"Alright… Alright, fine… Lay it on me."
She did.
" . . . "
" . . . "
" . . . "
"Mr. Valentine, did you hear all that?" Pepper asked after a long silence.
"Yeah, I did, I just… *YAAAAAWN* Trying to make sure I'm not still asleep is all."
"I know how ridiculous it sounds, but it's true…"
"I was afraid of that…" Virgil groaned as he rubbed his face. "So… How-urgent is this?"
"Rhodey and I would prefer you left immediately, if at all possible."
" . . . I'll have to let my boss know I'm going out of town, but you're lucky you caught me on a day off," Virgil said looking up from his planner.
"That's… That's good, that's… That's a relief to hear…" Pepper sighed. "I am… soooo sorry about all this-"
"It's fine, it's fine. If I left Tony high and dry, the girls would never let me hear the end of it."
"Well, at least someone around here can be that considerate…" Pepper sighed, and Virgil could hear the woman's blood pressure.
"Virgil, sweetie, come back to bed, it's too early…" Athena sighed as she grabbed onto him, Virgil fumbling for the End Call button-
"Virgil, are you… Are you in bed with a girl right-!?"
*Boop*
" . . . She's going to lay into me for that later. And not in the sexy fun way…" Virgil groaned as he rubbed at his face. "Come on, Athena, I've got to go. Gaige, you too."
"Awwwww…" the Mechromancer whined from his other side. "But I want more snuggllllles!"
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
"Hold up, hold up, hold… up…!" Gaige said making a 'stop' motion with both hands, eyes still droopy with sleep. "You're telling us that Tony… Tony Stark… tried to fly one of his Iron Man suits to the Moon… the Moon-Moon, and he got stuck…?"
"That's what Pepper told me…" Virgil sighed as he tied his laces before grabbing one of the bug-out bags from the wall hook next to the stairwell door. "Apparently one of his Repulsors failed, and the suit isn't articulate-enough for him to repair it himself, so the plan is to send me into space with the backup Mark 39 armor that Tony made in my size just for kicks and my GOD that sounds so stupid when it's said out loud…!"
"So, where's Tony right now?" Athena asked. "Is he popping a squat on a satellite somewhere? He in geosynchronous? A decaying orbit?"
"He's in a stable orbit, for now… so the plan is for me to get to him and push him the rest of the way to the International Space Station where he can affect repairs. After that we'll fly back down the old-fashioned way."
"And your boss was just okay with this…?"
"Mrs. Mayer said it wouldn't hurt to build up my network," Virgil replied as he rubbed at his eyes, honestly amazed the woman was in any shape to receive that message so-early in the morning. "Um… What're you doing?"
"We're going with you, obviously," Athena said as she and Gaige grabbed their own bug-out bags from the wall hooks. "I mean, not into space, obviously, but there's no way we're missing out on this."
" . . . Well, she did say there was going to be a plane waiting for me," Virgil shrugged, realizing there wasn't any reason for them to not come along.
"Bitchin~" Gaige grinned. "And hey, if we're lucky, maybe there'll be time for us to join the Mile-High-"
"Let's shelve that sort of talk until after we've had breakfast…" Virgil said putting a finger to her lips.
Not that he wasn't interested, he was just still too-tired at the moment…
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
The flight from Bludhaven, New Jersey to Cape Canaveral, Florida was set to take around 6 hours. Pepper and Happy were taking the "Iron Plane" with the "Iron Lad" Mark 39 loaded on and would be meeting them there. Like a real rocket launch, the plan was to use the centrifugal force of the planet to aid in his launch up into space. The Mark 39 was capable of reaching escape velocity under its own power, but given the International Space Station was involved, it made sense to keep NASA in the loop.
"Geez, not even a week into twenty-ten and already I'm up to more nonsense…" Virgil sighed as he leaned back in his chair, the sum of Bludhaven well behind them after the three had a quick power nap.
"Maybe, but what a hell of a way to start the new year~?" Gaige grinned, equally refreshed. "I mean, you get to go into fucking space. SPACE!"
"Still, getting himself stuck in orbit… That seems a little out-of-character, even-for someone as 'lackadaisical' as Tony Stark…" Athena hummed, in better spirits as well.
"Hmmmm… Well! Nothing to do about it, but to do something about it," Gaige hummed dropping a fist onto her palm before taking another look around the cabin of their private jet. "Vee, follow me. I wanna try something."
"Hm?" the brunette blinked as the Mechromancer grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him into the private bathroom.
" . . . Well, she did say she'd wait until after New Year's…" Athena sighed as she grabbed a magazine and lazily flipped through it.
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
"What do you mean he's not available?" Pepper demanded over video chat.
"I mean that he isn't available…!" Athena groaned rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"Well, where is he?!"
"In the bathroom," Athena said frankly.
"Hurts… so good…!"
"What was that?"
"Nothinggottagobye!"
"Don't you hang up on-"
*Veoop*
"Well…" Athena said with a small blush on her face as the sounds from the bathroom made her fantasize about Gaige's 'Oh Face'. "That could've gone-"
"Ms. Moxxi, just what is going on in there?!" Pepper demanded as she popped back up on the screen.
"Do you really wanna know?"
" . . . Oh my god, he's just like Tony…"
"For the record, this arrangement only lasts until she can go back to California," Athena corrected. "And I really had to twist his arm into giving Gaige what she… kind of needed, actually…"
" . . . You're lucky we're trying not to get the supers involved, or I'd have him pulled from this mission."
"Hey, you're the one who left Tony unsupervised long-enough to launch himself into space…" Athena sighed. " . . . Wait… Is this all some sort of convoluted plan to get Virgil to agree to be 'Iron Lad'?"
"Honestly, I wouldn't put it past him…" Pepper sighed as she deflated. "I just don't know where Tony got the idea that Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson are secretly Batman and Robin. It's ridiculous…"
"I won't pretend to imagine what goes through the heads of rich people…"
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
Florida, Cape Canaveral: Launch Complex 39A
January, 2, 11:13 EST
"Ow… Worth it…~" Gaige grinned, a hand to her rear as their plane pulled into the hangar alongside the Iron Plane.
"Did you have to be so loud?" Athena asked, causing Virgil to flush pink. "Ms. Potts heard everything."
"Kill me…" Virgil groaned.
"Well, you're about to go into space, so that's still a distinct possibility"
"At least I'm not gonna die a virgin."
"Me neither~" Gaige swooned as she hobbled along.
"I don't think it counts if it was only butt stuff," Athena huffed.
"Bite me."
"No, that's his job."
"I'd rather not hear what you kids do in your off hours," Pepper sighed as she walked over to them.
"Pepper, am I really being expected to fly up into space?" Virgil asked, upfront, as he jabbed a finger upward with an incredulous look on his face.
"You're the only one the suit will recognize. Not to mention you're the only one that'll fit…" the red-head sighed. "The built-in inertial dampeners should protect you from the g-forces of liftoff, and NASA has Tony's exact orbit plotted. Since you won't be weighing as much as a rocket, you've got a lot more latitude in when you depart. Though obviously, the sooner the better."
"Right, right, let's get me suited up. Athena and Gaige'd never forgive me if I left Tony to die up in space," Virgil grumbled as he walked up into the 'Iron Plane'. As soon as he stepped up into the cabin, "Sharp Dressed Man" by ZZ Top started playing. "Really?"
Cue Sharp Dressed Man by ZZ Top
"I'm not apologizing; is what Tony programmed me to say," Jarvis hummed from the speaker as the floor panels for the assembly rig rose up, a pair of white metal shoes with black accents waiting for him.
"Can you turn it off?"
"It's hardwired into the assembly matrix, I'm affraid."
"Of course it is," Virgil sighed as he stripped out of everything sans his boxers and climbed into his 'pilot suit' which one of the rig's manipulator arms was presenting. The suit sealing itself to the contours of his body, once he was certain his undercarriage was in a comfortable position for the duration of the trip, he stepped into the metal shoes waiting for him, the rest of the suit assembling piece by piece from the extremities inwards. The helmet being the final component to close around his head, the glowing HUD spooled to life around him, a tactile image of the world outside his suit coming into being as suit and all were slowly lowered through the belly of the plane and toward the ground.
"Running checks. Diagnosing suit integrity. Importing preferences."
"Hello, Friday," Virgil hummed as the suit AI did her work, row after row of red Xs turning into green check marks in a vividly-long list. "How are you today?"
"I am exceptional, Mr. Valentine. You are taller than when we last worked together?"
"Am I…?"
"You are. Do not worry. The suit was been adjusted to accommodate. You are go for mission."
"Damn… That is… so fucking cool~" Gaige awed as she beheld Virgil clad in a black, white-accented Iron Man armor, the whole of the faceplate colored gold, giving off the look of an EVA suit. With the booster pack, specialized maneuvering thrusters, and heavy gauge heat shielding, this was definitely a Sub-Orbital Suit.
"I'm going to have Tony´s ass for making me send a kid up into space," Pepper sighed as she looked the suit over.
"So, are we going to the launch platform, or am I taking off from right here?"
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
"Friday, what's the price tag on this thing?" Virgil asked as he stepped into the center of the concrete depression normally reserved for rocket exhaust.
"1.4 Billion USD," the AI replied.
"Well… I may incinerate on take-off, but I'll look damn good doing it," he hummed laconically.
"Virgil, don't even joke about that!" Athena chimed in from NASA's mission control on the direct line to his helmet.
"Youngest astronaut on record. Talk about bragging rights~" Gaige grinned. "I'm talking free drinks from every bar in the state of Florida!"
"Actually, I don't want my name or face leaking to the media. Not so soon into the new year."
"Tony will be disappointed, but then again, I don't particularly care at the moment," Pepper hummed. "Consider your identity confidential."
"And what about my quote/unquote 'groupies'?" Virgil asked as he eyed his HUD, which had boiled itself down to Speed, Oxygen, Velocity, and Destination, respectively at 0 Mach, 100%, 0 again but in Gs, and a count-down number in the 300+ kilometer range that fluctuated as Tony passed by miles overhead.
"I told NASA they were unpaid interns. They're certainly brainy-enough for the job."
"Tony'd better appreciate what I'm doing for him…" Virgil muttered, an alert notifying him that Mission Control was trying to get into contact. "Friday, alter my voice to something a little more digital."
"Complying."
"Starboost-2, this is Mission Control. Do you read, over?"
"This is Starboots-2. I read you loud and clear, over."
"Weather conditions are perfectly mild. We foresee no problems in you reaching escape velocity, given the technical specs for your suit."
"Good to know. Notify me when you're ready to go and I'll initiate launch sequence. Over."
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
Florida, Cape Canaveral: Launch Complex 39A
January, 2, 11:38 EST
"One minute to launch."
"Arc Reactor primed."
"Booster rocket ready for ignition."
"Starboost-2 Armor on internal power."
"Rocket booster flight data recorders are activated."
"Initiating handoff to Starboost-2 Armor's onboard computer."
"Starboost-2 Armor is now in control of the countdown."
"T-minus ten."
"Nine."
"Eight."
"Seven."
"Six."
"Five."
"Four."
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
"Zero, and liftoff of Starboost-1 Armor on a mission to render aid to Starboost-1, and to effect repairs on the international space station."
"HUWOAAAAAAAOGH!" Virgil cried as his suit's booster pack and the repulsors on his feet went off, armor locking itself into its most-aerodynamic position as it shot itself up into the sky.
Feeling his teeth rattle despite the armor and pilot suit's counteractive padding layers, a quick blink command sent a small manipulator to stick a mouthguard between his teeth. Making further micro-adjustments to his flight path, following the "road" his helmet's HUD laid out before him, his armor's Speed continued to increase, Oxygen ticking down slowly, his body's Gs remaining consistent while the countdown timer on Distance continued to shrink.
His neck craned slightly upward as he ascended, the slight cloud cover getting rapidly closer like a fluffy white wall, Virgil was glad the neck armor was so-robust, otherwise his head would've popped right off. Eventually shades of blue gave way to purple, and then to black, the roar of the booster pack vanishing altogether as the Earth's pull on him weakened; all that remained to remind him he was still moving the slight rumbling from the repulsors from his palms and soles.
"Detaching booster pack. Now entering Zero-Gravity Mode," Friday chimed as the interior padding on the armor swelled up, forming a more-secure fit around him as exterior magnetic interlocks disengaged, the booster pack that'd helped carry him into the void falling away. A puff of compressed gas sending it back toward Earth for later collection once the internal parachute went off, Virgil let out a sigh of relief that he'd gotten this far without turning into a great ball of fire.
"Thank you, Friday. What's the ETA on Tony's current position?"
"ETA is 21 standard minutes," the AI replied. "Now that you are in high orbit, would you like to look around?"
"Is that even safe? Taking my eyes off the 'road' I mean."
"At present, all you require to maintain inertia is the occasional pulse from your repulsors for course correction purposes. Sustained output is not required at-present, as you do not need to accelerate in order to reach mission-prevalent checkpoints."
" . . . You're the expert," Virgil hummed. Setting the maneuvering thrusters on his sides to turn him over, and then on his shoulders and torso to stand him 'upright', he allowed himself to turn his gaze downward.
The sight that greeted him took his breath away. He'd seen pictures of the Earth from space all his life, whether it was on the History Channel, Discovery, school textbooks, but to see the Earth in its entirety, with his own eyes…
Everything from the colorful landmasses, the swirling clouds, the vivid oceans; barely any greater traces of humanity were perceptible to him. It made him feel incredibly small, but also humbled, to bear witness to such majesty. As he 'crested' the Earth and caught sight of the light-giving sun in the far, far, far distance, his helmet polarized the image into something that wouldn't permanently blind him.
After drinking it all in among the silence, the only sounds his own breathing and the occasional action of the Starboost-2, he turned his attention from Earth's sun to all the others he could now see. Without the curtain of polluted air to interfere, each star glittered like diamonds upon a silken sheet, each one representing infinite possibilities for life throughout the universe.
According to M'gann, the "Sol System" was only cradle to two native lifeforms; the Humans on planet Earth or "Terra" as the Ma'aleca'andrans called it, and the "Martians" on Ma'aleca'andra or "Mars" as the people of Earth called it. And while many star systems had no life at all, or just no sentient life, when J'onn had told him of the Vega System , home to dozens of planets, hundreds of races, thousands of cultures and trillions of sentient beings…
Back then it hadn't really clicked, his "feet" having never left the "ground" he'd been born on. But finding himself up here, so far from home, the entirety of the world, his "homeworld" on display for him to see… At that moment he was both awed and terrified but what that meant.
But he wasn't terrified of what was out there. What terrified him, was how-ignorant he would always be "in the grand scale of things". How much he could never learn. Even if he spent the remainder of his life pouring over the Green Lantern Corps records non-stop, he doubted he'd be able to learn even a single percentage of all that was out there in the universe.
It was only when he accepted his ignorance that he felt free of this fear. Free to continue existing and eventually dying on the planet from which had borne him. Because even if he was an infinitesimally-small speck on an infinitesimally-insignificant rock in the middle-of-nowhere space… well…
That was just fine.
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
Earth Space
January 2, 12:05 EST (Planetside from Point-of-Departure)
"Tony Stark now entering visual range," came Friday's chime in his helmet, pulling him from his deep contemplation. Turning around and returning to his previous flight posture, a targeting reticle appeared on his visor, drawing the eye toward a speck in the closing distance, the occasional bit of gold trim catching the light.
Angling his palm repulsor and pulsing it a few times to course correct, as Tony's inert form got closer, he began to get biometric readings off of his armor. Oxygen was higher than he thought it'd be, which had him wondering what the hell Tony was putting in those air scrubbers for him to have not run out of air yet.
"Hey, Tony, you read me?"
" . . . "
"Over."
"I read you loud and clear, Iron Lad. Over."
"Call me that again and I'll connect Pepper. Over!"
"Please don't. Over."
"Sooo…" Virgil hummed as his armor slowed to match Tony's velocity, pulling up behind him. "You wanna explain to me what the hell was going through your mind when you decided on… this?!" he asked as he looped his arms under Tony's armpits, angling his repulsors on a new intercept for the International Space Station.
"Well, it all started with a cup of brandy…"
"Because of course it did."
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
Earth Space: International Space Station
January 2, 17:38 GMT
In a time and place where Superheroes were pure fantasy with little to no basis in reality, the International Space Station would be little more than a couple-dozen airtight capsules floating in space where everyone had to use vacuum-powered toilets for number one and number two.
However, this was neither that time nor place, and as such, the International Space Station was infinitely more-technologically impressive. Of course, without any point of reference to the contrary, the ISS in its present form was considered "the ordinary".
On approach, Virgil witnessed it with his own eyes in a way that pictures just couldn't appreciate. The foremost section that they were on approach to was a squat cylinder with rounded edges and a smaller domed cap, the whole thing about the size of a sports arena; the docking bays, three horizontal slats on the apex of the horizontal-facing dome, were not unlike what you'd find on the Death Star from Star Wars. The section immediately behind it was cylindrical, about the size of a stout skyscraper, and connected to it on opposite sides like dorsal and ventral fins were vast cobalt-colored solar arrays capable of powering a small town back on Earth. On the far end and perpendicular to the middle section was a dark-gray cylinder about half the size with a large interior cavity, space debris being funneled into it with very little leaving the opposite end. The entire thing was painted in varying shades of gray with flecks of gold light from the interior windows littering its surface.*
"Pictures just don't do the real thing justice, do they, kid?" Tony asked, dropping the whole 'over' spiel since they were on a private line in a who-else-would-we-be-talking-to sort of way.
"No they do not," Virgil admitted, directing them toward the tertiary landing bay, smaller than the two above it. And it wasn't like it was very hard. Even without a tractor beam on the other end, the docking bays were so large, capable of housing entire fleets of space shuttles in them, that the landing procedures were basically like flying a model plane into an open jumbo jet hangar.
Magnetic boots clamping down, the "space traffic controller" activated floor-mounted lights to direct us to an airlock that would admit us into the rest of the station. That so much of the surrounding equipment had the Stark logo unashamedly slapped or etched onto the sides, showed part of why we'd received such a warm welcome.
"And hey, how many sixteen-year-olds get to go to space?"
"I turned seventeen last December."
"Really? Well then consider this trip your belated birthday present. Jarvis, Friday, sing the happy birthday song."
"Please don't. And also, I thought that was what the Suitcase Armor was for."
"Naw, that was for Christmas."
"Just how far up your own ass are you about the whole 'Iron Sidekick' thing?"
"I mean… Brucie got a little sidekick of his own. Recruiting you is like that but with fewer steps."
"Assuming I actually believe this horseshit and the whole 'Bruce Wayne: philanthropist playboy billionaire' thing is some kind of front, is this one of those 'one-upsmanship' things?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Okay, I figured but didn't want to assume…"
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
It went without saying that the mechanic's shop in the I.S.S. far eclipsed what I saw from Athena's lab/garage. As such, it was relatively easy for Tony to slave some manipulator arms to his suit's controls so as to repair the actual faults in his armor's repulsors. While the armor was fairly articulate, wearing it first-hand, I could see why a self-repair might be a bit difficult, even in a vacuum.
As it turned out, the tertiary section of the International Space Station used magnetic coils to draw in space debris before stripping them for parts. What was actually usable was recycled, while all the rest was sent towards the Earth in small-enough pieces that they'd completely burn up on re-entry. Certain paranoids on Earth thought it would be the start of orbital bombardment, but this was functionally little different than the first fighter planes in World War I dropping bricks over the side prior to the advent of on-board weaponry.
The one area that Athena's lab had the I.S.S.'s beaten was in terms of 3D Printer, with Athena's Stark 3D Red Special eclipsing what was available here by far. Even assuming we wanted to go back to Earth ASAP, most of the downtime would be waiting on the 3D printers to pump out the right parts so we could make the return trip to Earth.
And we were definitely going to take that return trip, because even though Tony had shut Pepper out, with Athena and Gaige in her corner, it was easy for them to brute-force a connection through to Tony's helmet; there was only so-much counter-hacking one could do with blink commands.
"So Vee, how're you enjoying your trip?" Gaige asked into my comm as I left Tony to Pepper's tender mercies.
"Well… If you told me a year ago I'd be casually strolling down the center column of the International Space Station, I'd have called you nuts," I hummed as I walked about the I.S.S.'s central column where the hydroponics and other recreational facilities were.
Only the foremost laboratory section had access to the Artificial Gravity Generators straight out of science fiction. The central area used centrifugal force to impart a modicum of gravity on the interior allowing it to rotate independently of the rest of the station, while the aft section, "The Claw Machine" as those who actually lived here lovingly called it, didn't need any form of gravity at all.
"You're probably the youngest visitor on record, definitely the youngest astronaut," Athena hummed. "Number six-hundred fifty-three to be precise~"
Ah, that's right. Since 1961, more than six-hundred astronauts have flown into space to varying altitudes. Until 2002, astronauts were sponsored and trained exclusively by governments, either by military or by civilian space agencies. With the suborbital flight of the privately-funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, the first commercially-funded spacecraft using only Human/Earth technology, a new category of astronaut was created: the commercial astronaut.
Mind you, me finding myself as the six-hundred fifty-third officially-recognized astronaut, didn't include all of the superheroes who went up into space for one reason or another unless they did so at the behest of the UN. And without the little bits, pieces, and scraps of alien tech that mankind had been able to make fully usable without horrible defects, it was unlikely that the I.S.S. would've ever reached this current size, let alone gain the ability to cannibalize space debris to the point it could continue expanding as it had. Between the "Claw Machine" and space flight-capable superheroes, orbital debris capable of reaching the Earth itself was actually a rarity.
Which has me wondering, what's taking so-long to make a space elevator? If you could send things up into space on a shaft, it'd be a lot more cost-effective to send stuff to the Moon or even Mars when you didn't have to worry about escape velocity.
But those were thoughts for another day.
"Perhaps, but I don't want that to follow me to Earth. I actually like my quiet life; when I can find the time and trouble isn't finding me."
"Don't worry. We'll keep your identity a secret. 'Iron Warrior'~"
"Iron what?" I blinked at Gaige's comment.
"Don't question the awesomeness."
"On that, I actually have to agree," Athena added.
"That sounds familiar, though…" I replied, something from my high school days poking at my memory, but not quite setting anything off. "Still, better than 'Iron Lad'."
"Tony tried to negotiate for 'Ironclad' but I was like 'fuuuck that'," Gaige added.
"That's just 'Iron Lad' with a C in the middle," I deadpanned.
"That and it sounds lame," Athena chimed in. "Keep looking around. I'm enjoying the footage."
"Aye aye, m'lady."
"Love it when you talk nerdy~" Gaige swooned. "And I have a special treat waiting for you when you get back~"
"Well… all the more reason to make it back to Earth in one piece, then."
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
Earth Space: International Space Station
January 2, 18:42 GMT
After around an hour of walking the halls, taking in what all could be seen (that NASA had greenlit him to see) and exchanging idle talk with some of the astronauts, Friday finally notified Virgil that Tony had finished effecting repairs to his armor.
"So, Iron Warrior, are you ready for the return trip?" a fully-repaired Iron Man inquired as he stepped out of the "machine shop" with the same swagger he carried back on Earth.
"That depends. Is Ms. Potts done constructing your superfluous new asshole yet?"
"Try to fly to the Moon one time and they never let you forget it…" Tony said with a shake of his head and a shrug of his shoulders, hands upturned. "Still, you got to go to space, so that must've been a pretty great way to start the new year~"
"It'd have been better if Pepper hadn't gotten Athena, Gaige, and I out of bed at 4:30 in the fucking morning," Virgil grumbled as they made their way to the landing bay airlock.
"Oh? Same bed or separate~?"
"I won't dignify that with a response."
"Same bed, got it~" Tony grinned as the thing finished cycling, the sounds of their footsteps vanishing into the vacuum.
"You're lucky Athena and Gaige are such big fans of your work, or I'd have left you up here."
"Except they are, so you didn't," Tony said patting him on the shoulder.
"What the hell were you even going to the Moon for, anyway?"
"Open house on oceanfront property by the Sea of Tranquility."
"Really?"
"That's the story I came up with and I'm sticking to it."
"I'm sorry, 'story'?"
"Story? What story? I don't know anything about no story."
"Jarvis. Command: How-long did Tony take to effect repairs?"
"Fourteen minutes exactly, sir. The necessary parts were already available."
"Tattletale," Tony pouted.
"Oh my god…"
"Religion aside, you ready for the highest sky dive of your life? Maybe an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records~?"
"You have a spin for everything, don't you…?" Virgil deadpanned.
"Hey, I couldn't make my trip to the Moon, so I should at least get something from this vanity project."
"Half the stuff I've seen in this place is yours. You telling me this is your first time up here?"
"Surprisingly, yes," the man shrugged. "But we can talk more on that later. Don't you have a couple of honies waiting for you back on Earth?"
"I'm surprise you're the one that's so-eager to get back. Isn't Pepper going to ground you for life as soon as we're planetside?"
"She isn't my mom, and I sign her paychecks. Besides, this is not the worst thing she's ever caught me doing."
"No, just the most public."
"Hah, I wish! This'll probably be old news in about a week~"
"You're lucky the view is so-gorgeous, or I wouldn't put up with you," Virgil said as he looked down at the Earth, just as beautiful as when he'd first seen it from on high.
"See? I knew you'd love the sidekicking gig~"
"You know, space is a very dangerous place, and no-one can hear you scream."
"Shutting up."
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
Atlantic Ocean
January 2, 16:02 AT
The return trip in of itself, even with the heavy gauge Heat Shield and Tony taking the lead, felt like the absolute worst roller coaster ride Virgil had ever been on. As soon as they hit the atmosphere itself, his entire field of view was filled with blazing reds and orange, and it was both amazing and terrifying that all he was wearing was a suit and not riding a giant spacecraft. If it he weren't aware he was falling through Earth's atmosphere, he'd think the bellowing roar from around him were of some primeval beast.
Eventually, the heat of re-entry did give way to the beautiful whites and blues of planet Earth. Upon arrival, Virgil let out a sigh of relief; even if all he could see in every direction was miles and miles of ocean.
"Race you to Cape Canaveral?"
"You already owe me for the rescue mission."
"True, but I have very deep pockets~"
"You really do have too much money and too-little common sense…" Virgil deadpanned, happy he was at least getting paid.
He had risked "incineration-on-takeoff", after alll.
"That's just part of the charm~"
And Virgil could just hear the man grinning inside his helmet.
"Jarvis, Friday, set up a countdown timer and a directional bearing indicator. Maybe give a cruise liner or two a free show on the way~"
" . . . Damn it if I'm not trying to be more adventurous this year… Fine! Fine, I'll race you."
"Alright~"
"I'm deeply regretting this already…" Virgil muttered as a 10-second count-down appeared in front of him, as well as a 'track'.
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
Florida, Cape Canaveral: Launch Complex 39A
January 2,13:25 EST
The return of Iron Man and the newly-christened "Iron Warrior" to Earth was met with much fanfare from those who were spectating from the various spectator areas; and Virgil was sure that Tony had altered the flight path to give them the maximum exposure as they spiraled toward the hangar where the Iron Plane was waiting for them. The fact that they got close enough for people to see him flashing the peace sign didn't help matters either…
"Vee! You're back!" Athena and Gaige cried out as they ran up to him the moment he came to a stop, the two of them wrapping their arms around his armored midsection and resting their foreheads to either side of his arc reactor.
"Tonyyyyyy…!" Pepper on the other hand, growled as she welcomed Tony back with less reception.
"Wu-oh. Kids, get inside. Mommy and daddy need to chat," Tony said worriedly as he backpedaled, his hands raised up in a placating gesture.
"Fine with me. The air in this can's getting a little stale anyway," Virgil said as he walked under the indicated porthole in the Iron Plane's belly, a pair of manipulator hooks swooping down and grabbing him by the shoulders before pulling him up into the cabin, a litany of mechanical arms waiting for him.
As the mechanical apparatus got to work taking the suit from his body piece by piece, Athena and Gaige both enthusiastically talked about the suit's technical specs which they were able to study in the interim. As it turned out, the reason the Starboost Armors weren't equipped with the same "Advanced Donning System" as most of the other Iron Man Suits were post-Mark-7, was because it created too many points of mechanical failure for what was meant to be a fully-pressurized suit. Even a single unnecessary hairline seam could utterly fry a pilot on re-entry, no matter how-robust the Heat Shield was.
"Air! Fresh, fresh air!" Virgil gasped as he stepped out of the iron shoes, only for Athena to leap at him the moment he was free and clear. His back hitting the floor, the next moment she devoured his lips hungrily, hands cupping his face. He in turn reciprocated, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding to him, allowing some of the tension of his up-and-back trip to leave his weary body.
"Whoa, easy girl! He just got back on his feet," Gaige pouted, the two finally coming up for air a minute later.
"Well… I know the Starboost is some of Tony's best work, but I was still worried," Athena said as she helped him to his feet.
"Trust me, you have no idea how happy I am to see the two of you again," Virgil sighed as he embraced one, then the other, and then both of his polyamories.
"Oh? Finally accepting the 'Accords'?" Gaige grinned as she returned the gesture, arms around them both in a group hug, chest-to-chest-to-chest.
"Let's just say that seeing the entirety of my birth planet in all its splendor… It really helped put things into perspective," Virgil admitted. "It's probably a sight I'll carry with me for the rest of my life."
"Yeah, I guess the first-person camera wouldn't really do the sight justice," Athena hummed thoughtfully. Mission control had been patched in, and it made for a hell of a show. "What was the I.S.S. like?"
"Honestly? I thought there'd be more people. There's certainly plenty of room up there."
"Well, after what happened with that Transian astronaut back in oh-three, NASA's had to be a little more stringent with their vetting process," Gaige clarified.**
"Ah as much as I enjoy holding the two of you in my arms, I kinda need to take care of something," Virgil said bashfully as he gestured to the ensuite.
"Right, of course. Take your time," Athena replied as they let him go, the brunette scurrying off to the bathroom now that the sphincter-clenching terror of space flight had abated.
"Hold on, couldn't he have gone in the suit?" Gaige blinked.
"He could have, but he never inquired," Friday chimed in.
"I mean… it's a bit of a leap, consciously wetting yourself after an entire lifetime of learning not to do that without a bathroom under you," Athena deadpanned.
"Tony already had something go wrong with his armor. I didn't want to find out the waste disposal in mine was faulty too," Virgil chimed in through the bathroom door.
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
"Ah, finally. That itch was driving me nuts," Tony sighed a short while later as he grabbed a back scratcher from a wall hook and worked on one of those hard-to-reach places, the last of the mechanical Donning System retreating into the floor.
"I'm surprised you haven't solved that issue by now," Gaige hummed.
"Yeah, well, the back-scratching function is still in Beta. Same with the vomit disposal patch."
"What would've happened if I did barf?" Virgil asked worriedly.
"In all likelihood, you would have drowned," Friday chimed.
"Yikes. Way to kill the mood, Fri," Tony hummed, Pepper shooting him a sour look. "But anyway, now that we're planetside, what do you want? Another car, cash? Something from the Stark catalogue?" he asked in a casual tone as though Pepper weren't about to lay into him again.
"I want a pair of MARs for my girls, hand-made by you with laser-etched autographs," Virgil said tapping at his chest, his girls' eyes lighting up at the request.
Part of it was that what he was asking for, he intended for them. The second was that he hadn't hesitated. That he'd thought of them first… it left them feeling all warm and gooey inside, and the pretty nerds decided they'd show their boyfriend their "appreciation" at a later time.
"Oh? Well, certainly more practical than wedding rings," the man shrugged, causing the blond and red-head to blush slightly.
"Tonyyyyyy…!" Pepper growled as she grabbed the man by the ear.
"I-I'll have them have them sent over through a trusted courier!" Tony said as he was dragged into a corner for another tongue-lashing, Virgil, Athena, and Gaige quickly shuffling out of the Iron Plane, their work done. "Oh! And the plane's yours 'til the end of the day too!" he added through the doorway before the stairwell retracted.
The three teens stepping well away from the Iron Plane as it began to taxi out of the hangar, once the sound of its repulsor engines faded into the far distance, the three teens looked at the private jet that'd carried them all the way from Bludhaven.
"So! We've got a private plane all to ourselves and we're only an hour away from Orlando. Wanna play hooky?" Gaige beamed excitedly.
"I mean… I don't have anything pending, and the pilot is waiting on our leave, soooo…" Virgil hummed, seeing no reason to refuse them.
"I always did want to go to Universal Orlando Resort…~" Athena hummed with a smile. "Let's grab a cab and paint the town red!" she said grabbing Virgil's arm and pulling him toward the hangar door.
"Screw Universal Orlando! We're going to Disney World!" Gaige said grabbing his other arm and pulling him the opposite direction.
"Why're you pulling him that way? The cabs are only in one direction!"
"It's the principle of the thing!"
'Oh bother…' Virgil groaned to himself as the two began to bicker about the pros of theirs and the cons of the others' choice in venue respectively. 'Remember your New Year's Resolution. Be more open to new experiences. "Normal" is for suckers. It's a great place to visit but you can't live there.'
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
With Universal Orlando or Disney World now a given, the three teens took a cab to the nearest rest stop where they could look at all the brochures, each one trying to slant Virgil's decision on where to go.
After notifying their pilot where they were going to be and changing into their lighest clothes, of course.
"Disney World's the most magical place on Earth!"
"And I'm telling you, Universal Orlando has the best roller coasters!"
'Yeah, 'cause this is a fight we want to have in public...' Virgil thought to himself as he stood off to the side, leafing through brochures of his own.
The closest he'd ever been to either of these places were small-time county fairs and dinky pre-fab rides, so he honestly had no clue which was genuinely better. Both had their pros and cons, but for him it was the company that was more-important. He could've gone back to those very same rinky-dink carnivals and still had a great time, as long as his new found family were with him.
And at the very least, they weren't the only "family" bickering over where to go, so it wasn't like they were drawing any more attention to themselves than the other bickering clusters. Even if the other clusters were of prepubescent children shrieking in higher octaves that'd offend small animals.
"Since we're at a bit of an impasse, why don't we let the dog decide?" Gaige asked imperiously.
"Dog?" Athena blinked before something touched her leg. "EYAAAGH!" she shrieked as she leapt up into Virgil's arms, scattering his brochures to the floor.
"Morris? When did you get here?" he blinked seeing his 'not-corgi' looking up at them, tongue lolling happily.
"Did your 'dog' just teleport cross-country?" Gaige whispered into his ear.
Everybody else was too self-absorbed to notice.
"I mean... maybe?" he shrugged, Athena coughing bashfully in his arms. Setting her down on her feet, two barks caught the three's attention. Their eyes panning down to see Morris pawing at the brochure for Disney World, a moment later the Chinese dumpling pushed it forward, angling a doggy smile up at them.
"Can't argue with that face, now can you?" Gaige grinned cheekily.
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom
January 2,14:47 EST
"Ahhhhhh..." Gaige sighed as they stepped off the bus, the bustling gates of Orlando, Florida's premier amusement park looming in front of them. "You can just smell the magic in the air."
"Magic smells like cola and pee," Athena deadpanned as they walked up to the gates, one or more unruly children having soiled themselves nearby.
"Hey, Morris, no more surprises, okay?" Virgil pleaded downward. In response, his familar barked up at him, the Emotional Support vest added to his Glamour looking factory fresh. "I'll take that as a 'yes'," he hummed as they got in line, which was thankfully on the shorter side, meaning they didn't have to bake in the sun.
When they got up to the ticket counter, Virgil was cradling Morris in his arms, the Emotional Support vest blatantly visible, and thankfully, the woman behind the register didn't bat an eye. Of course, Morris playing up the "cute little Corgi" spiel might've helped, if the momentary break in the woman's "resting bitch face" was any indicator.
"Have a magical stay," the woman replied, waving them on through.
"Sooo... Where to first?" Gaige grinned eagerly, taking a park map from a kiosk.
"Why not ask the dog, again?" Athena asked a little sourly, adjusting her hat atop her head.
"Girls, please don't fight. I only want pleasant memories of this place; for all of us," he said looking at them imploringly, and then to Morris before setting him down.
" . . . Because we love you, we won't fight," the two agreed after a brief, but also long, unspoken conversation.
"Thank you. It makes me happy to hear you say that," he sighed, giving the two his best, but also most-genuine smile.
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
"There sure are a lot of mascots out and about," Virgil hummed aloud, noting that they'd passed the fifth Mickey and Minnie Mouse pairing that day.
"Hmmmmmm..." Gaige hummed with narrowed eyes.
"What?" Athena asked.
"I guess the rumors were true."
"What rumors?" she blinked.
"Well, this is just hearsay, but before I 'left' Star Academy..." she hummed, pausing to collect her thoughts. "I'd heard that the higher-ups at Disney, tired of their actors complaining about the horrible work conditions, decided to cut out the middleman and put robots in the suits."
"That'd explain the 'off-ness' I'm getting off of them," Virgil hummed as a Mickey Mouse posed for a picture, his movements a little too rigid.
"Any idea who took the job?" Athena asked.
"Last I heard, Holloway Robotics was in the lead for the bidding. Of course, that was a couple months ago. Not really sure if Disney will actually get what they pay for..."
*Sniff*Sniff* "What's that smell?" Virgil blinked as something wafter by.
"Huh... Smells like blue electric death, with a side of burnt hair..." Athena hummed aloud, catching the same odor.
"MOMMY!" a little girl suddenly shrieked, Virgil, Athena, and Gaige looking over their shoulders to see one of the Goofy costumes had burst partly into flames, bits of a robotic endoskeleton showing through.
"Holloway?" Athena inquired as the thing started going berserk, flinging trash cans and throwing light posts about.
"Holloway," the ginger confirmed as the parkgoers realized this wasn't part of the show and that they were in legit danger.
"Sooo... You think Disney voided the warranty, or is Holloway just that cheap?" Virgil hummed as the thing started looking a bit like the Terminator.
"Definitely an overheat. Those costumes had poor ventilation even before Disney crammed robots into them," Athena hummed.
"Should we do something?" Gaige asked as the three of them backed away. As they retreated to a minimum safe distance, Disney World security showed up to quell the "robot uprising", as one panicked parkgoer cried out.
It wasn't going well for them...
"WAAAAAAH!"
"Dammit, what kind of parent ditches their kid?!" Virgil swore as he ran toward an abandoned infant, "Goofy" about to paint the ground a very disgusting color with a double axe handle.
As Virgil scooped up the kid and rolled away, Athena and Gaige hijacked a hotdog cart before plowing it into "Goofy's" midsection. A sneeze causing Athena's hair to palette-swap, a sudden burst of strength and adrenaline let them bridge the final gap and dump the flaming costume-clad bot into the moat around Cinderella's Castle. As the thing sank, sparks of electricity went up from the water, everyone nearby scattering.
"Cheese it! We'll hide in Tomorrowland before doubling back!" Virgil said taking the two of them by the hand and blending into the fleeing crowd.
If they let security catch them, they could lose the whole day to beaurocratic nonsense.
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
Walt Disney World: Hollywood Studios
January 2, 15:14 EST
By some miracle, the three of them had been able to flee the Magic Kingdom and not get caught.
Part of the drawback of trying to "maintain the illusion", Virgil supposed.
Thankfully, the shuttle to Hollywood Boulevard was right where they needed it to be, and with just-enough seats for the three of them to make a speedy getaway.
"I still don't see why Morris got to sit on your lap and I didn't..." Gaige pouted as the four of them walked down Sunset Boulevard.
"Oh not this again..." Athena sighed. "Seriously, did he awaken something in your or what?"
"Yes, but that's not the point."
"AIIIGH!"
"Oh what now!" Virgil growled as a shrilly cry went out, a man in a light-blue parka with added armor plating on his limbs busting out of a store with a freeze ray in one hand, a bag leaking money in the other.
"I feel like Mister Freeze and Captain Cold will sue this guy..." Athena deadpanned.
"It go-time?" Gaige hummed as the man freeze-blasted a security guard.
"I actually want to enjoy Hollywood Studios, so I'd like to play this a little discretely," Virgil said as he adjusted his Ring-Wand on his hand, eyes darting about and taking everything in. A surge of adrenaline granting him a momentary fit of "Bullet Time", Virgil drank in his surroundings before muttering out- "Wercsnu."
A thread of magic leaping out of him and at the nearby hydrant cap, the thing unscrewed itself and unleashed a blast of water at the wannabe ice villain, soaking him like a drowned rat and knocking him off his feet.
"Erifsim."
Another thread of magic leaping out, the trigger on the man's freeze ray quivered in place behind the trigger guard before it went off. Blue energy shooting into the saturated wall, a creeping wave of ice soaked up the growing puddle under the man's feet before it all but smothered him, the quote/unquote "villain's" teeth chattering after his own weapon "inexplicably" turned on him.
"Huh. I guess less really is more," Gaige hummed at how-easily that resolved itself.
"Unscrewing that fire hydrant took more out of me than that trigger pull..."
"It's to be expected. The required torque when compared to a trigger pull, there's no contest," Athena hummed.
" . . . So, who wants to hit the Star Wars flight simulator?" Gaige asked after a moment.
" . . . "
"What? Too soon?" Gaige blinked when Virgil shot her a blank look.
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
Walt Disney World: Epcot
January 2, 17:22 EST
While Athena and Gaige had their best memories at the Future World segment at the fore of the park, even if they could (and have) make (made) more-advanced stuff in a garage with a box of scraps, for Virgil, it was of the World Showcase. He wasn't completely sure, but it might've been seeing the world in its entirety that made him more-interested in his world. Places he might see, people he might meet, whether for work, his cover, or pure recreation now that he had access to the League's Zeta Tube network.
He doubted the League or Star Labs would be too keen on him granting random civilians access to their teleporter web, but he supposed he could still take Zatanna and M'gann around the block a couple of times.
A part of him idly contemplated seeing a shrink about these "brotherly instincts" he was projecting onto those around him, but it wasn't like he had some sort of complex or anything.
That he recognized.
Of course, while "the most magical place on Earth" had a way of bringing out the best in people, it had an equal capacity to bring out their worst.
"Stupid bitch!"
*Crash*
"Spending all my money on a hyped-up carnival! Little brat probably isn't even mine, you slut!" a clearly inebriated man raged at a woman, a child who looked nothing like the father cowering behind her legs, completely unaware of what was going on. Or even his part in it all.
"Should I get involved?" Virgil asked. Honestly, it wasn't any of his business, and he wasn't about to stick his nose into every failing marriage he saw.
Plus, even he could tell the wife might've been unfaithful; white father, white mother, light-brown kid... Only reason he hadn't gotten involved straight-out was he'd only knocked over a table. The man hadn't gotten physical. Yet...
"Looks like security's got it," Gaige hummed as three men in blue uniforms arrived.
"Not gonna throw out a little magic?" Athena asked as the inebriated man fought back.
"You have to draw a line in the sand somewhere," Virgil hummed as he kept a respectful distance. "Heroes have to rest sometime, yet they still blame themselves for everyone that dies when they catch their forty winks. I'm hoping Zee and Meg don't develop the same bad habits as their predecessors."
"You've been altruistic before."
"Yeah. When it directly affects me. I'm not gonna throw my life away for a complete stranger who won't even be thankful afterwards."
"Because gratitude is a currency that always depreciates in value?"
"Pretty much."
"That's fair, I suppose," Athena hummed as she watched the security guys haul away the drunken lout. "Guess they didn't need you after all."
"I don't need to solve all the world's problems."***
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
Florida, Cape Canaveral: Launch Complex 39A
January 2, 22:04 EST
Hours later after a long day at Disney World...
"I'm amazed that pilot was so cool with us ditching him here for the day," Virgil hummed later that evening as they made their way back to their ride.
"I mean, he was already 'paid for'," Gaige hummed.
"Fair point."
"Well I certainly had a great time, but I also kinda want to get back to work," Athena admitted.
"Yeah, me too~" Gaige grinned. "With the Stark 3D Red Special, I can make all sorts of upgrades to DT~"
"Same," Virgil hummed.
"Yeah, but what's the worst that could be waiting for you when we get back?"
"Gaige, you never ask that question. Not in our circle," Athena deadpanned.
"Uh, my bad..." Gaige said scratching her cheek before something flickered in her eye. "Guess you're going to have to punish me, huh, Vee~?"
"I think you awoke something in her~" Athena grinned Virgil's way.
"Says the girl who got me to agree to this," he said tracing a triangle through the air between the three of them.
"He does have a point you know~" Gaige grinned looping an arm in hers.
"Oh, go and fuck an astronaut~" the pretty blond grinned back looping his other arm.
"Maybe I will~"
"Happy New year indeed..." Virgil said thoughtfully as they climbed the stairs.
*TO THE MOON OR BUST*
[Post Production Notes]
*The I.S.S. in Earth-16H, if you need a point of reference, looks exactingly like the I.S.S. from the DCAU's Earth-12 as seen in Justice League Season 2 Episodes 7 & 8, the "Maid of Honor" Arc.
That its image stuck with me for so-long after first showing in 2003 (roughly 20 years ago, Christ I'm old…) is really quite the credit to what Rich Fogel, Stan Berkowitz, Dwayne McDuffie, and so-many other amazing artists had created. Definitely the "gold standard" for the DCAU, which I endeavored to mesh into my Teen Titans story.
**Another "Maid of Honor" reference. Since this Vandal Savage is far more secretive and wouldn't do something nearly so blatant, it happened independently of his involvement.
***Originally, Spaceman and I had planned for Virgil to whip out a little CQC on the guy.
However, as I was finishing this chapter, I realized Virgil didn't have to get involved; not like with the "Goofinator" or "Cosplay Ice Villain". In fact, he wouldn't want to get involved like most of the Supers in their "Off-Hours Issue" would've, because he isn't so-delusional as to think that the world can only "get better" if he gets involved with every little thing. Virgil's always been the sort to recognize that making the world a better place, is the job of the whole world; not just a privileged few.
P.S.
This was not in any way, shape, or form a paid endorsement for Disney World. Figure I should say so before I "trigger" anyone. People's butts are really sensitive nowadays for that sort of thing. Political correctness and all that nonsense.
P.P.S.
There's a little something "extra" *cough* wink *cough* coming up on Young Justice: The (Tail) Hunter on AO3, so keep an eye out if you want to know what Virgil and Gaige got up to on the way to-and-from Cape Canaveral~ Any little comments that help refine the craft are greatly appreciated.